Keys to Love
by sportiegrl
Summary: I watched as tears cascaded down your cheeks. No matter how much power I used, my legs wouldn't budge. I long for the days of your melodic laughter and smiles. For the days you played the secret language of the black and white keys that led to our love.
1. Chapter 1: First Day, First Time

**Disclaimer: Inuyasha and characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi.**

**All songs used are copyrighted by their industries.**

**_Keys to Love_ is property of sportiegrl/Justine Tran**

**P.S the italics between the songs are flashbacks :]**

**enjoy!  
**

**Chapter 1: First Day, First Time**

"Who is that?" Everyone wondered and whispered to one another as they crowded around the door to a private practice room. They heard the beautiful melody of Beethoven's Fur Elise being played by a teenage girl with long raven hair and deep brown eyes. Everyone stood in awe as they tip-toed up to look through the small glass window on the door. Never have they heard someone so young play so beautifully before.

"Excuse me; can I help all of you?" A beautiful woman in her thirties asked as she gave them a polite smile. Her raven hair trailed to her waist—just like the teen playing the piano—and her brown eyes brightened in the light. The birthmark on her forehead that looked slightly of a flower or jewels gave her more of a goddess type look—someone that was beyond what words could describe. "So," her word grabbed them out of their trance, "how may I help you?"

"Ah yes." A woman began as she stepped forward to grab everyone's attention. "Shikon-sensei, we," the woman motioned to everyone around her, "were wondering who the young lady playing the piano is. I've brought my daughter here three times a week and I have never seen her before nor have I ever heard someone here ever play so beautifully, well, besides you of course."

"Ah yes, Hanazawa-san, that girl is an old student of mine. Her name is Higurashi Kikyo. She's been coming here since she was a child and she only comes here once in a while, just to practice and get whatever help she needs when she learns a new piece." Shikon-sensei replied.

"Higurashi Kikyo…isn't she the one who won the International Tchaikovsky Competition last summer?" A man asked.

Shikon Midoriko nodded with a smile. "Piano section; took home the first place prize and made Japan proud." She glanced down at her watch and checked the time. "Actually, if you would all excuse me for a while, I need to go talk to her." The group of people cleared the way for the beautiful teacher to get through to the door. She closed the door behind her and quietly walked to the side of the room to wait until Kikyo finished playing. Once Kikyo finished playing the last measure of Fur Elise, the sound of the piano stopped and Midoriko's clapping sound filled the air instead. "Amazing. Still playing it perfectly as you did the first time ever touching a piano—10 years ago—when you were seven."

Kikyo nodded. "Thank you."

"Well how's Bankotsu? You visited him yesterday right?"

Kikyo kept her eyes on the piano keys and lightly touched the keys with her index finger. "Still the same."

"Is there a possibility that he'll get better?"

"They don't know."

Midoriko sighed and walked over to the piano. "Well, it's already almost seven. You better start heading out to school—can't be late on the first day." She smiled.

Kikyo nodded and grabbed her bag as she stood. "Bye." She walked out of the room—ignoring the people standing outside the practice room—she made her way through the doors of the building and to her new school.

**-Tokyo High-**

"So you're second year, Higurashi Kikyo?" A man with orange-brown hair and light green eyes asked as he sat in his chair in the teacher offices. Although he was already in his late twenties, he never did out grow his baby face feature.

Kikyo merely nodded to confirm his question.

He nodded. "I see you don't talk much." He glanced at Kikyo to see if she would reply, but she just stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "I'm Sakurai Shippo; address me as Sakurai-sensei please." Kikyo only nodded.

The school bell chimed and all the teachers began leaving the office as students were hurrying to class. "Well, I guess I'll take you to the classroom." He led her out the office and up the hall. "Here we are, 2-A." He said as he opened the door and led her inside. Once they walked in, the classroom immediately quieted down.

Whispers of the new and beautiful student immediately filled the room, but once they saw her face, the whispers ceased. Each and every student's face froze, looking as if they've seen a ghost.

Kikyo observed the class. Surely, the school couldn't have picked a different uniform? A green sailor outfit for the girls with a red ribbon and a navy blue military like outfit for the boys. She swore she never hated green so much as this in her life.

"Class, this is Higurashi Kikyo; a transfer from Sakura High. She's 17 just like everyone here, but she doesn't talk much, so be friendly to her alright?" Shippo introduced.

"Ok." The class said in unison, almost in a whisper.

"Alright, Kikyo take a seat next to the window behind Hiraikotsu-san. Hiraikotsu Sango, raise your hand."

The girl Sango—a girl with long brown hair and dark brown eyes—did as told. Kikyo nodded and walked over to the seat, ignoring the eyes and whispers of her peers. Kikyo quietly took her seat and turned to her left, keeping her gaze out the window.

"Alright, time for role call."

Kikyo ignored whatever the teacher said and thought about what song to play later on today. She already played Fur Elise not so long ago, so which should she play next? What would Bankotsu enjoy? She made a small "ah", which no one but herself heard, as she thought of the song she decided to play—Vanilla Twilight, by Owl City.

"Tessaiga Inuyasha." Shippo looked at Inuyasha's empty seat. "Kazaana-san, where's Tessaiga at?"

This name brought Kikyo from her thoughts. She wondered, _'Why does that name sound so familiar?'_

Kazaana or Miroku, as his friends called him, had black hair in a short pony tail and brown eyes. Kikyo noticed that he was in the same row as her and was only a couple of seats away. The boy shrugged, "Who knows. Knowing Inuyasha, he's probably still at home sleeping."

At the statement, the whole class began to laugh and some boys shouted, "Yeah, he would!"

Suddenly, the door slid open with a bang and the class abruptly quieted down and all the laughter ceased. A boy with silver hair and golden eyes stepped in. He held his bag slung over his shoulder as he walked in.

"Tessaiga, you're late." Sakurai-sensei said with irritation. "Again."

Kikyo only naturally assumed that this boy was Tessaiga Inuyasha. He definitely seemed familiar to her.

Inuyasha simply rolled his eyes and muttered, "Whatever." He walked through the aisle and towards the empty seat on the right of Kikyo. He threw his bag on his table and sat down. He crossed his arms and ignored the anticipating stares.

Kikyo at first did wonder why they kept staring at her and the Inuyasha kid, but she simply ignored it and returned her attention to whatever was outside the window. Inuyasha opened his eyes and noticed the girl sitting to his left. Immediately, he sprang from his seat and slammed his hands down on Kikyo's desk. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in Kagome's seat?" He screamed at her with his brows furrowed, eyes narrowed, and voice full of rage.

Kikyo slightly jumped, but quickly composed herself and leaned back against her chair. She looked up at him and gave him an emotionless look.

His eyes slightly widened as he observed her features. "Kagome…" He whispered to himself as the anger quickly vanished from his face and a pained, but relieved look appeared on his face. His eyes quickly softened as he reached his hand out to touch her cheek. Kikyo immediately swatted his hand away before he could touch her. Inuyasha snapped out of his trance and Kikyo gave him the most terrifying stare she could muster. He shook his head. "I'm going crazy." He muttered to himself. Inuyasha brought his attention back to Kikyo and saw her cold glare. "What the hell are you upset for? This is KAGOME'S seat, not yours!" He yelled as his voice got louder and louder with each word.

Kikyo remained silent and held her glare. Unwavering and unafraid, she wasn't going to let some silver-head punk tell her what to do.

"Are you deaf wo—"

"That's enough Inuyasha." Shippo said with a stern voice. "That's Kikyo's seat now. If you were here _on time_, then you would have known that we had a transfer student. Now sit down and leave her alone."

Inuyasha growled and gave one last glare at Kikyo before her banged his hands on her desk in frustration on last time and finally sat down. Kikyo leaned forward and put her elbows back on her desk as she put her head in her hand and turned to look outside the window. _'Annoying'_ was the only word that ran through her head. _'Inuyasha…Kagome…that's right! Kagome said her boyfriend's name was Inuyasha.'_ Kikyo turned her head and snuck a small glance at him—angry eyes, scrunched up nose, and looking mad twenty-four-seven. What exactly did Kagome like about him, Kikyo wondered. She remembered Kagome being a happy and bubbly person that always looked to the positive side, the exact opposite of the silver-haired bad boy sitting next to her. Who knows, maybe opposites really do attract. Well, she could say she wasn't one to disregard the whole "opposites attract" thing as well. She _does_ have Bankotsu and he's the total opposite of her. Kikyo looked out the window once again and gave one of her rare small smiles as she thought about her memories with Bankotsu.

"Higurashi-san," Sakurai-sensei said, which automatically grabbed Inuyasha's attention. "If you're going to stare outside the window, then you should know how to solve this problem don't you?"

Kikyo looked at the board and nodded as she stood from her seat and walked to the board. All eyes were on her, but she, as usual, ignored all of them. She grabbed a chalk and read the problem in her mind. _'Easy'_, she thought to herself. Without writing all the steps on the board, she simply just wrote a four, put the chalk down, and walked back to her seat.

Shippo looked at his answer book to see if it was correct. And bingo, she was spot on. He was simply amazed. Her transcripts were already amazing especially with her being the top of her class, but he didn't expect her to solve the problem with just one glance at it. And that problem was up on the board for almost a week because no one in class has been able to solve it, well except for the transfer student of course. "Wow, good job Kikyo, you're right." He said with a smile.

Kikyo simply nodded and turned her head back to the window. She found that nature was more interesting than these people.

**-4 Hours Later-**

There were about three breaks between the start of school and the start of lunch. Currently, it was lunch time. Most of the students stayed in class while some went back to the cafeteria. Kikyo grabbed her bento and walked out of class, she was tired and annoyed of the whispers saying how she looked like Kagome and anything that related her to Kagome. She went up the hall and went up all the flights of stairs, reaching the door to the roof, she opened the door and shut it behind her—hoping no one else was coming up. She walked over to the fence, sat directly across from the door, and began eating her bento.

Tessaiga Sesshomaru was a third year with silver hair and golden eyes; he was someone that no one at school ever crossed. If none of you guessed yet, yes, Sesshomaru was Inuyasha's older brother. He was a quiet, unemotional, and intelligent person. He, as well as many other arrogant and high status people, believed that commoners or the working class should follow his orders. It has been this way for as long as he could remember. His personal motto was "rule with fear and respect, and no one would dare to go against you."

Sesshomaru made his way to the roof—_his_ roof. He opened the door and automatically narrowed his eyes at the sight her saw. Who did the girl think she was, to actually believe that she was allowed to sit on _his_ roof? He calmly walked over to her and hovered over her little frame.

Kikyo noticed the lack of sunlight and stopped eating to look up at whatever was shadowing over her. She noticed his glare and simply gave him an unemotional and uncaring look. Her eyes glanced at his nametag, 'Tessaiga Sesshomaru; third year' it read. _'What's with Tessaiga's glaring all the time?'_ Kikyo thought to herself. She looked up at his face once again and he stayed there just glaring at her. Kikyo simply didn't care and resumed to her eating.

Sesshomaru was stunned that someone dared to ignore him. He examined her features and noticed that she looked really similar to his little brother's ex-girlfriend. He looked at her nametag and noticed the two girls had the same last name. _'That explains it.'_ He thought to himself.

"Move." Sesshomaru said in a threatening voice, but Kikyo just continued on eating. A few minutes passed and Sesshomaru was getting no where. He ended up having to deal with her sitting there and decided to just sit a few feet away from her. As soon as Sesshomaru sat down, Kikyo finished eating her lunch. She packed up her bento, walked to the door, and down the flight of step to her classroom.

She put her bento back in her bag and looked at her watch. _'Still have 25 minutes.'_ The other students were still gossiping, so she left the classroom once again. She walked down the hall, looking for some place to go where she could be alone. She stopped when she saw a secluded classroom at the end of the hall. _'Music room.'_ She read to herself as she peeked through the window. The room was pretty dim mostly because the lights weren't on and little sunlight showed through the windows. Kikyo opened the door and slid it closed behind her. She didn't bother looking for the light, she liked the dim lighting. Her eyes slightly brightened up as she saw the grand piano in the middle of the room.

She quickly walked over to it, lifted the hood, and sat on the bench. She uncovered the keys and ran her fingers over the smooth keys. She played a "C" and listened as it filled the room. She gave a content sigh as she began playing the song Vanilla Twilight by Owl City. She closed her eyes as she let the music flow and breathed in a breath of air as she prepared to sing along.

"The stars lean down to kiss you  
And I lie awake and miss you  
Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere

'Cause I'll doze off safe and soundly  
But I'll miss your arms around me  
I'd send a postcard to you, dear  
'Cause I wish you were here"

The sound of the piano playing and the voice woke Inuyasha up from his nap. He grumbled slightly as he sat up from lying on the chairs. He was on the darker side of the room, so it was obvious that whoever was playing the piano, didn't notice him there. He sat there and stared at whoever was playing the piano. He was going to say something at first, but he was somehow mesmerized by her playing and singing.

"I'll watch the night turn light-blue  
But it's not the same without you  
Because it takes two to whisper quietly

The silence isn't so bad  
'Til I look at my hands and feel sad  
'Cause the spaces between my fingers  
Are right where yours fit perfectly"

Inuyasha knew this song. What was it again? Vanilla sky? No, that wasn't it...Vanilla…Vanilla Twilight by Owl City! He was amazed, not only was her piano skill amazing, but her voice was beautiful as well. He examined her features and noticed that she didn't resemble Kagome that much. She seemed more mature, dignified, and proud. He began to see many differences between the two. Kagome was more cheerful, happy, and child-like while this new girl seemed t be the opposite.

"I'll find repose in new ways  
Though I haven't slept in two days  
'Cause cold nostalgia  
Chills me to the bone

But drenched in vanilla twilight  
I'll sit on the front porch all night  
Waist-deep in thought because  
When I think of you I don't feel so alone

I don't feel so alone, I don't feel so alone"

Sure he thought she was a beauty, but she still wasn't Kagome.

"As many times as I blink  
I'll think of you tonight  
I'll think of you tonight

When violet eyes get brighter  
And heavy wings grow lighter  
I'll taste the sky and feel alive again

And I'll forget the world that I knew  
But I swear I won't forget you  
Oh, if my voice could reach  
Back through the past  
I'd whisper in your ear  
Oh darling, I wish you were here"

Kikyo continued playing the last few measures of the ending melody. Once she stopped, clapping filled the air. Her eyes snapped open and instantly glared at the boy that stepped out from the shadows. _'The annoying one.'_ She thought to herself.

"What? You woke me up with your piano playing and singing and you wanna be the one to glare?" Inuyasha said with an amused look as he folded his arms.

Kikyo kept her glare on him.

"Aren't you gonna talk?" Nothing. "What? You were singing all fine earlier and you suddenly can't talk?"

Kikyo could tell that he was already annoyed. With each word, his expression was getting more and more irritated. Kikyo took a quick glance at her watch and closed the cover for the keys. She stood up and closed the hood as well. Kikyo made her way to the door and didn't bother to even say "bye" or look in Inuyasha's direction.

"Hey! You can't just ignore someone like that!" Inuyasha yelled in fury as he grabbed her hand to stop her.

She turned around, giving him her hardest glare, and yanked her hand away. She pointed up towards the ceiling.

Inuyasha raised a brow. "What are you pointing there for?" At that moment, the bell chimed, signaling the end of lunch.

Kikyo quickly slid the door open and walked off to the classroom, hurrying before Inuyasha decided to stop her once again.

"Geez, what a weirdo." He muttered to himself as he slowly strolled to class. He entered class and Sakurai-sensei still wasn't there, but all the students already were. Inuyasha walked towards his seat and sat down. He turned to Kikyo, who was staring out the window. "Hey."

No reply.

"Hey, new girl."

Nothing.

"Clone."

Kikyo kept on ignoring him. _'Just a few more hours of this and I'll get to see Bankotsu.'_ She repeated to herself.

"Hey, trans—"

"Inuyasha, leave the poor girl alone. She hasn't done anything wrong that you had to torture her with your annoying voice." A girl said with a smirk. She turned around to face Kikyo. "Hi Kikyo, I'm Hiraikotsu Sango. You can just call me Sango."

Kikyo moved her gaze from the window to the Sango girl sitting in from of her and nodded.

"And I'm Kazaana Miroku. You can call me Miroku." Miroku introduced as he popped up from behind her chair. Kikyo nodded but froze once she felt a hand on her lower back trailing down south.

Sango knew right away what was happening when she saw Kikyo's stunned face and Miroku's blissful one. "Miroku!" Sango yelled.

Instantly, Kikyo's hand flew up and grabbed Miroku's arm. Using whatever she could remember from when Bankotsu taught her self-defense, she used all her strength and flung Miroku onto the floor. He yelled as he flew off his feet and groaned once he hit the ground. Miroku opened his eyes to see Kikyo's killer glare.

'_If looks could kill.'_ Everyone in the room thought as they slightly inched to the edge of their seat.

Sango and Inuyasha laughed. "That's what you get Miroku." Inuyasha said as he helped Miroku up.

"Serves you right perv." Sango grinned.

"I'm sorry Kikyo. It's a habit." Miroku apologized, but was still met with the same killing glare.

"So transfer girl." Inuyasha started once again. "While I'm asking nicely, move out of that seat."

Kikyo turned her head away and looked out the window again.

"Move from the seat." He repeated in a slow threatening voice.

But still no movement.

"Damn it!" Inuyasha got up and banged his hands on the desk. "Get up from the seat! It's not your table! It's Kagome's! So move it new girl!"

Kikyo leaned back and glared at Inuyasha as she remained seated.

"GET U—"

The classroom door slid open with a lout bang. "INUYASHA!" Shippo yelled in an angry voice. He quickly walked over to Inuyasha and hit him over the head with his lesson plans. "What do you think you're doing? Kagome doesn't sit there anymore, get over it! She's not here and you need to stop harassing Kikyo, because that's her seat now."

Inuyasha lowered his head, grit his teeth, and balled his fists. He fit his fist on Kikyo's desk in anger and stormed out of the classroom.

"Inuyasha!" Sakurai-sensei called out.

"Sensei, it's best to just let him be." Miroku said as he walked to his seat.

Shippo sighed. "Yeah." He turned over to Kikyo. "Are you alright? Don't mind Inuyasha. He's a retard and aggressive sometimes, but he's a good kid."

Kikyo nodded and looked at her desk. _'Can't he just beat up his own desk?'_ Kikyo went back to her original position and looked out the window once again and waited for her school time to be over.

**-After School at Tokyo Hospital-**

School ended twenty minutes ago at three o'clock. Kikyo was already inside the elevator, heading to Bankotsu's room. The elevator made a ding sound, signaling that she arrived on her floor. She stepped out and walked to the end of the hall, to room 10-12. The name plate of room 10-12 was Banryu Bankotsu. She slid the door to the room open. She walked in and slid the door closed behind her. The room that she was in was bigger than average. It was basically two rooms in one and was a private room, paid for by the Kaze family.

Kikyo walked over to the bed and sat in the chair beside it. She reached out a hand and touched the Bankotsu's tanned cheeks. She moved her hand to his forehead and traced the cross like scar that he received from the accident. He laid there in his coma, unaware of his loved one's pained expression. Kikyo moved her hand and touched his long jet-black hair. "Onyx eyes to match your jet-black hair." She said with a small smile. "If you were awake, you would be upset that your hair wasn't braided."

Kikyo interlocked her hand with his. "Today was my first day of school. I didn't talk to anyone; like usual, but it's not like it matters. And I met Kagome's boyfriend today. He's really arrogant, demanding, and aggressive. I don't really like him that much. I met his brother too. Well, I'm assuming that's his brother since they have the same last name and look similar to each other. He's really similar to Inuyasha, Kagome's boyfriend, except for the aggressive part. A girl named Sango introduced herself to me and a guy named Miroku groped me. But don't worry; I threw him down like you taught me." Kikyo said with a small smile. Kikyo laid her head down on the bed and looked at him. "When are you going to wake up? It's not fair that you worked so hard to get close to me and then just leave like that. Plus, Dad and Kagome left too. It's not fair." Small tears formed in Kikyo's eyes, but she shook her head to take the tears away.

"How about I play a song for you?" Kikyo said as she walked over to the grand piano. Yes, the Kaze family added it in the room as well. "I was going to play Vanilla Twilight by Owl City, but…" Kikyo thought back to the time in the music room. "Something unpleasant happened. So I'll play First Time by Michael Wong instead." Kikyo started the song by playing the melody in a soft tone. As she began to play, the sweet memories of their time together played in her head.

"When you look at me, I haven't opened my mouth  
You've already figured out, I'm still not certain  
I still haven't filled your requests

Is it that I'm thinking too much, or that you are also avoiding?  
If you've really chosen me, I'll muster up the courage to accept  
Unwittingly, my line of sight has begun to become evasive"

"_Hey, what's your name?" Bankotsu asked with a grin, but Kikyo gave no reply. "Not much of a talker huh? That's okay. Would mind if I just sit here and listen though?" _

_Once again, Kikyo didn't reply._

"_I'll take that as a yes." His smile never faded._

"…" _Kikyo waited to see if he would leave, but he never moved. He just sat there, waiting for her to play, with that wide grin of his.  
_

"Oh, the first time I said I loved you  
Breathing was hard, my heart wouldn't stop trembling  
Oh, the first time I held your two hands  
I lost my way, didn't know where I was walking  
That's the reason for us to be in love  
That's the two of us protecting each other

To me

"Oh, the first time I kissed your deep dimples  
I wanted to be sober, but I became giddy  
Oh, the first time you laid down on my chest  
We didn't part for 24 hours  
That was the first time I knew what 'everlasting and unchanging' meant"

_Bankotsu grabbed hold of Kikyo's hand. "Hold on and stick close to me. It's getting dark and I don't wanna lose you." He said with a smirk._

_Kikyo looked down at their locked hands. She moved eyes back up to his face and just stared. She didn't know what to do for she was still new to this._

"_What?" He raised a brow. "Am I that good looking?" He smirked._

_Kikyo gave a slow nod._

_Bankotsu threw his head back in laughter. "You're honesty is too cute." His charming grin was back on his lips._

"_Banryu, Higurashi! Hurry up! This may be a class vacation trip, but it's getting dark and we need to stick together!"_

_Bankotsu nodded and pulled Kikyo's hand. "Well, let's go!" He gave a wide grin and began running to catch up to their peers as Kikyo clung tightly to his hand and followed._

"I feel that you are a part of me, I feel your pupils  
It's the first time deciding, it can't be wrong

When you look at me, I haven't opened my mouth  
You've already figured out, I'm still not certain  
I still haven't filled your requests

Is it that I'm thinking too much, or that you are also avoiding?  
If you've really chosen me, I'll muster up the courage to accept  
Unwittingly, my line of sight has begun to become evasive

Oh, the first time I said I loved you  
Breathing was hard, my heart wouldn't stop trembling  
Oh, the first time I held your two hands  
I lost my way, didn't know where I was walking  
That's the reason for us to be in love  
That's the two of us protecting each other

To me

Oh, the first time I kissed your deep dimples  
I wanted to be sober, but I became giddy  
Oh, the first time you laid down on my chest  
We didn't part for 24 hours

When you look at me, I haven't opened my mouth  
You've already figured out, I'm still not certain  
I still haven't filled your requests

Is it that I'm thinking too much, or that you are also avoiding?  
If you've really chosen me, I'll muster up the courage to accept  
Unwittingly, my line of sight has begun to become evasive

Oh, the first time I said I loved you  
Breathing was hard, my heart wouldn't stop trembling  
Oh, the first time I held your two hands  
I lost my way, didn't know where I was walking  
That's the reason for us to be in love  
That's the two of us protecting each other

To me

Oh, the first time I kissed your deep dimples  
I wanted to be sober, but I became giddy  
Oh, the first time you laid down on my chest  
We didn't part for 24 hours"

"_I had fun today." Bankotsu said as he stood with Kikyo in front of her door. _

_Kikyo nodded and gave a small smile. "Me too." _

_Bankotsu grinned. He leaned forward and kissed Kikyo on her cheek. "Nights." He said in a deep voice as he turned to leave._

"_Wait!" Kikyo grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving. _

_He turned and raised a brow. "Yeah?"_

"_I…" A blush crept up to Kikyo's face. "I love you." _

_Bankotsu grinned and gave her a warm hug. "I know." He pulled away and looked her in the eyes. "I love you too." He said with a soft smile and the two shared their first kiss._

"That was the first time I knew what 'everlasting and unchanging' meant."

* * *

**Alright!**

**That's the first chapter of _Keys to Love_! :D**

**Hope you guys enjoyed it. :]**

**And if you guys haven't checked out my other KikyoxInuyasha fanfic yet, go check it out! :D**

**it's called _Our Own Fairytale_. :]**

**Tell me what you guys think!**

**_-sportiegrl out~_  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Finally Feeling at Peace

**Disclaimer: Inuyasha and characters is property of Takahashi Rumiko.**

**_Keys to Love _is property of sportiegrl/Justine Tran**

**Enjoy! :]  
**

**Chapter 2: Finally Feeling at Peace  
**

"Good morning." Kikyo greeted as she walked into the dining room.

"You're up pretty early." Higurashi Nodoka—the mother of Kagome and Sota as well as Kikyo's aunt—said with a smile. "I just finished breakfast." She took off her yellow apron and carried the food to the table. Her curly, short, black hair bounced a little with every step she took.

"Smells good." Their Grandpa said as he sat down at the table. His grey mustache slightly moved as he sniffed the air. He wore his traditional Shinto priest garb and he had his grey hair tied in a samurai knot.

"Yup, yup!" Sota said with glee. His black hair slightly blew in the air as he ran to the table and took a seat. He looked around excitedly with his brown eyes, eager to taste the food on the table before him. "Thanks Mama!"

Kikyo nodded as she took a seat as well. "Thank you Nodoka-oba-san."

"Itadakimasu." Everyone said as they grabbed their chopsticks and ate their breakfast.

"You came home late yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to ask you. So how was your first day of school Kikyo?" Nodoka asked with a smile.

"It was fine."

"Did you make any new friends?" She asked with an excited and hopeful look.

Kikyo pondered for a moment. "I met some new people, but I wouldn't count them as friends."

"Bring them over to one day and I'll check to see if they're possessed by any demons." Grandpa said with a determined look. Grandpa is the priest of the Higurashi shrine—which is also the Higurashi household. He devoted his life to maintaining the shrine that has been in their family for many generations.

Kikyo nodded. "If you wish."

"Ah, did you know that our family has watched over this shrine for many generations?" Grandpa said as he began his historical lesson for the day. "Also—"

"Sorry for interrupting, Ojii-san, but I have to leave for school. Maybe you can finish this later on tonight?" Kikyo suggested as she took her dishes to the sink.

Grandpa gave a reluctant nod. "I guess, I' just tell it to you dinner." He gave an excited look.

Kikyo gave a nod. "Of course. Thank you, bye." She said with a bow.

"Me too!" Sota said as he ran to put his dishes away and grabbed his bag. "Thanks for breakfast, bye! Oh yeah, I'm gonna go to Kohaku's house after school, Mama."

Nodoka walked over to the two as they put their shoes on. "For how long?"

"Maybe until five?"

"Alright. Have a nice day at school." She said with a cheerful smile.

Sota turned to the pictures on the shelf near the door. On the far right, there was a picture of a man in his thirties with short, jet black hair and brown eyes; in the middle was a picture of a girl that looked almost identical to Kikyo, but with shorter hair and a more baby-ish face than her; and on the left was a picture of a man in his late twenties with his black hair tied in a low ponytail and brown eyes. He gave a small bow. "Bye Oji-san." He directed it to the picture on the far right. "Bye Onee-chan." Which was directed to the one in the middle. "By Otou-san." This was directed to the one on the left. "Bye Mama! Bye Ojii-san!" He shouted as he ran out the door.

Kikyo turned to the shelf as well and gave a small bow. "Bye Otou-san." She said to the picture on the far right. "Bye Kagome." She said to the one in the middle. "Bye Oji-san." She said to the one on the left. She turned to her aunt and grandpa. "Bye Oba-san, bye Ojii-san." She gave a small bow.

"Bye." Grandpa merely replied as he was busying himself with the food on the table.

"Bye, be safe." Nodoka responded with a small smile. Kikyo nodded and noticed the slightly pained look in her aunt's eyes. The small bittersweet looking smile showed through the small fake one on her face. Kikyo noticed it all. If only she didn't have her stupid piano competition in Britain a couple months ago in May, none of this would have happened. Her father and Kagome would still be here with them and everyone would be happy instead of grieving for their loss.

The door slid open and Sota popped his head in. "Kikyo-nee-chan are you coming? We're gonna be late for the bus!"

Kikyo nodded and followed Sota out the door. The two quickly made their way through the shrine and ran down the many steps that connected the shrine to the city.

"Hurry! The bus leaves in five minutes!" Sota yelled as he pumped his legs faster. Kikyo nodded and sped up as they made their way to the bus stop, which was luckily around the corner from their house. "Safe!" Sota shouted with a glad and tired look on his face. They ran through the doors, gave a deep sigh, and panted for breath as they took their seats. "That was close!"

Kikyo nodded as she busied herself with getting the oxygen that she really needed.

Sota laughed. "You're not athletic huh?" He teased.

Kikyo shook her head. "Not at all. Because of piano, I'm not allowed to do any physical activity."

"Why?"

Kikyo looked at her hands. "Because they're afraid I'll injure my fingers and won't be able to play the piano anymore."

"Oh. That sucks. So you have to sit out during sports?" Kikyo nodded. "Can you participate in the sports festival?"

"No."

Sota pursed his lips and slightly furrowed his brows. "Then how can you have fun?"

Kikyo simply shrugged and looked out the window. "You learn how to deal with it."

_Ever since she was little, she was never allowed to play sports. So exactly what was the point of her staying at school for this stupid sports festival that she couldn't join? When she could be at home doing something more productive._

_"Kikyo!" Bankotsu called as he jogged over to her. "Where are you going?" His class jersey was slightly drenched in sweat because he just finished his soccer match._

_"Home." She replied with an uninterested look._

_"What?" He gave a look of surprise. "Why? The sports festival is still going on! And we have a huge chance of winning this year!"_

_"And I care why?"_

_"Hey, if you can't be part of the sport, then at least go join the cheer squad."_

_Kikyo raised a brow and gave him a disbelieving look._

_"Okay, then at least watch my next match. It's the last one for the day and I'm so gonna own!" He said with a wide grin._

_Kikyo looked away and then back at Bankotsu's excited face. She gave sigh. "Fine."_

_"Alright!" He pumped a fist in the air and grinned. "Oh! And if I win the next match then you have to go on a date with me alright?"_

_She didn't even hesitate to say "No." Oh boy, being shot down was not a pretty thing._

_But that didn't crush his hopes. "I'll take that as a yes." He winked._

_"Bankotsu! Your race is starting!" One of their classmates yelled._

_"Hai!" He yelled back. "So, stay and watch yeah?" He said with a hopeful grin._

_Kikyo paused and gave a sigh. "..."_

_He grinned from ear-to-ear. "Alright! I'll see you later!" He turned and jogged over to his starting point in the 100-meter relay._

_She gave another reluctant sigh and pursed her lips. She slowly walked over to the sidelines and took a seat on the grass. "Can't believe I'm doing this." She muttered to herself._

_BANG! The announcer shot a blank from a gun in the air to signal the start of the race. The first runners sped off, hoping to get ahead of their opponents. "Gambatte!" The cheer squad for her class—class 1-A—yelled. The first runners reached the second, who reached the third and eventually reached the forth—Bankotsu. And that was the start of the loud cheers from his fan club. It annoyed Kikyo so much that she wanted to leave, but she already gave Bankotsu her word. It wasn't so much that she was jealous or anything, it was more like they were too loud for her taste. She was the quiet and peaceful type, one that hated the loud ruckus._

_The loud gasps from the girls and the cheer squad caught her attention and snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked back at the race and her eyes slightly widened when she saw one of the opponents trip Bankotsu. She heard him grunt as he hit he ground and saw blood flow from his left leg._

_Bankotsu clutched his fist due to the pain that his left leg was feeling. "Shit!" He muttered under his breath._

_"Bankotsu!" Screamed the group of girls that stood on the side._

_He glanced over at them and noticed the porcelain-skinned girl sitting a few feet away from them. Her deep brown eyes slightly widened and a worried look appeared on her face. 'That's right! Gotta finish the race!' He thought to himself as he saw the person that was his motivation in the first place. He stood up and ignored the pain shooting from his leg. He pumped his legs as fast as he could, luckily, he didn't lose much time and that he was on the track team—the ace of the track team. He was able to easily catch up to his opponents. One by one, he was able to pass them. He reached the guy in the lead—Kaze Onigumo—who was the one that tripped him earlier on. Bankotsu smirked. "Hey." He said in a huff. Onigumo glared at him and pumped his legs faster. Bankotsu did the same. Bankotsu thought back to Kikyo and his motive for winning this race. His smirk widened. His legs pumped faster with every thought and he was slowly taking the lead and losing Onigumo. "Sorry! Can't afford to lose this!" He yelled back as he took off in the lead, nothing could stop him—not even the pain that was shooting from his leg._

_Everyone cheered once Bankotsu passed the finish line. Kikyo quickened her usual pace as she walked over to the finish line to find the idiot Bankotsu._

_"Kikyo!" Bankotsu called with happiness as he limped over to her. "I won! Th—"_

_SLAP!_

_It wasn't a 'congratulations' or a 'good job' that Bankotsu received or the possibility of a congratulating kiss on the cheek or lips, but instead, it was a slap to the face. Kikyo balled her hands into fists as glared at him. "Idiot! You're hurt and you kept running!" Everyone was shocked; for that was the first time they heard her say more than a few words._

_"I wanted to win." He gave a sheepish grin. "Like I said, I wanna go on a date and the deal was that if I win, I get a date."_

_"And it was that important that you would injure yourself even more?" She gave him an unbelieving look._

_"Of course." He grinned._

_Kikyo turned away as her face slightly tinted. "Whatever." She muttered under her breath. "Let's go to the nurse." She said as she turned away and walked ahead._

_"Okay!" He grinned as he limped over to her and finally caught up. "So…you were worried?" He smirked._

_"Shut up."_

_He gave a wide grin. "You know," he paused a little as a sly smile played on his lips. "I kinda need some support."_

_Kikyo eyed him from the corner of her eyes. She sighed and stopped. "Just this once."_

_"Seriously?" His face brightened up with excitement._

_"Hurry up before I change my mind."_

_Bankotsu nodded and slung an arm around her shoulders. "And will you help bandage my leg?"_

_"…I guess."_

_"And walk home with me?"_

_She shot him a look. "Don't push it."_

_He shrugged. "It was worth a try." Kikyo rolled her eyes._

"Kikyo-nee-chan."

Kikyo turned to Sota as he stood from his seat.

"I get off here. You know which stop to get off at for your school right?"

Kikyo nodded.

"Alright then, I'll see you tonight." He smiled.

Kikyo nodded. "Be safe."

It took Kikyo another ten minutes to finally reach the stop for her school. She got off and walked through the gates and to her classroom. The bell rang right when she took her seat and everyone scattered to his or her seats as well.

"Alright, roll call." Sakurai-sensei said as he walked into the classroom. He went through almost every name with ease until he reached Tessaiga. "Tessaiga." No response. "Tessaiga." He called again, but no response. "Alright then, Tessaiga," he paused as the door slid open and the said man walked in with his book bag slung over his shoulder. "Late again." He finished with a sigh. "Inuyasha, the school starts its' first class at 7:30 for a reason. Try to be on time tomorrow and every day after that."

"Keh." He scoffed as he took his seat. He eyed Kikyo from the corner of his eyes. He noticed her head was turned and looking out the window like she did all day yesterday. He wondered what the hell could be so interesting out there. When Kagome was still around, she never looked out the window. So what was this girl's problem?

Kikyo sat there and ignored the stares of her annoying seat partner. She stared out the window and let her mind wander off until lunch came around.

Sesshomaru glared at the figure sitting across from the door and leaning against the fence. "Move."

Kikyo ignored him and put some more food in her mouth.

"Did you not hear me?"

Kikyo still didn't respond. Sesshomaru growled as he moved to the same spot as yesterday and unwrapped the bread package. Kikyo took her time to eat, much to the dismay of Sesshomaru. Every minute spent up there was torture to him. His rooftop was his sanctuary, but with this girl up there invading his space, it was torture.

Kikyo looked over at her watch and saw that there was only twenty minutes left of lunch. She cleaned up her bento and walked over to the door. But before she left, she turned to Sesshomaru and gave him a victorious smirk. Sesshomaru growled when she walked through the door and shut it behind her. "She took her damn time on purpose."

On the other side of the door, Kikyo's smirk grew wider. "Don't mess with me." She said as she made her way down the stairs.

Ever since Kagome's death, Inuyasha has had a lot of trouble sleeping and when he did sleep, he had nightmares. He's tried many things, but nothing could help his sleep or get rid of his nightmares. The door slid open and Kikyo walked in. He propped himself up from his spot on the chairs in the back of the classroom. He was slightly mesmerized when he saw her hair fluttered in the air behind her as she made her way to the piano. She popped up the hood and over the cover to the keys. She pressed the C key and hummed the note as it rang through the classroom.

Usually Inuyasha would have told her to leave, but for some reason, he wanted to listen to her play again. Kikyo played the first few measures: F, E, F, and C in a repetitive manner, after every four notes, the tempo played faster and faster.

"I can make the rain stop if I wanna  
Just by my attitude  
I can take my laptop, record a snapshot  
And change a point of view

I just entered this brand new world  
And I'm so open hearted  
I know I've got a long way to go  
But I, I'm just getting started"

Inuyasha closed his eyes and felt his mind finally at ease for once in a long time. He felt calm and peaceful as he let his muscle relax and let his mind go off in dreamland.

"I'm over my head  
And I know it, I know it  
I'm doin' my best  
Not to show it, to show it  
Whatever it takes to be  
What I was meant to be  
I'm gonna try  
'Cuz I'm livin' the dream  
And I know it, I know it  
I'm tryin' my best  
Not to blow it, to blow it  
And I know everything will be fine  
With me, myself, and time

I go where life takes me but some days it makes me  
Want to change my direction  
Sometimes it gets lonely but I know that it's only  
A matter of my perception

I just entered this brand new world  
And I'm so open hearted  
I know I've got a long way to go  
But I, I'm just getting started

I'm over my head  
And I know it, I know it  
I'm doin' my best  
Not to show it, to show it  
Whatever it takes to be  
What I was meant to be  
I'm gonna try  
'Cuz I'm livin' the dream  
And I know it, I know it  
I'm tryin' my best  
Not to blow it, to blow it  
And I know everything will be fine  
With me, myself and time

And maybe there's nothing like this moment  
So just be real and let the truth be spoken  
Whatever's broke, I can make it unbroken  
Turn the lead in my hand  
And the stars stand golden  
Just try, more love  
If I just try, more love  
Then I'll find myself in TIME~!"

Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes. The way Kikyo extended the "time" part in the lyrics and sung it with a fuller and rounder voice. The voice, the sound, everything was just so captivating. "Amazing…" Inuyasha muttered under his breath. When she stopped, he laid back down and closed his eyes again.

"I'm over my head  
And I know it, I know it  
I'm doin' my best  
Not to show it, to show it  
Whatever it takes to be  
What I was meant to be  
I'm gonna try

I'm over my head  
And I know it, I know it  
I'm doin' my best  
Not to show it, to show it  
Whatever it takes to be  
What I was meant to be  
I'm gonna try  
'Cuz I'm livin' the dream  
And I know it, I know it  
I'm tryin' my best  
Not to blow it, to blow it  
And I know everything will be fine  
With me, myself and time

I'll find myself in time  
I know I'll find myself  
In time."

The bell rang when Kikyo finally finished. She made her was to the door, but stopped when she noticed something silver in the shaded side of the room. She crept closer and closer until she heard some small snores. Kikyo furrowed her brows in curiosity and walked closer to the sleeping figure. 'Oh it's the silver haired idiot.' Kikyo looked over at her watch and noticed she only had a couple of minutes left to get to class. She walked over to the door and took one last glance at Inuyasha. 'Hm…' The choices were to either wake him up and have to go to class or let him be late to class. She shrugged and chose the latter as she made her way to her classroom.

The last class of the day was almost over by the time Inuyasha finally made it to class. "Late again." Shippo said with a sigh.

"I know." Inuyasha growled in irritation as he made his way to his seat. "Thanks for waking me up." Kikyo turned to him and flashed him a small smirk while he just glared and growled.

The bell rang, signaling the end of school and Kikyo quickly rushed off campus and made her way to the hospital. It took her about twenty minutes to get to the hospital. She went up the elevator and walked down the hallway. Her face had an excited look, one that was glad to finally see her love after a long day of school. But that look immediately left when she opened the door and saw the people inside the room, next to her boyfriend's bed.

Kaze Kagura had short brown hair tied in a ponytail and deep red eyes. She was the older of the two, while the other one—Kaze Kanna—was around Sota's age. Kanna had long white hair and dark onyx eyes. It slightly amazed Kikyo at how the two were sisters, but they looked so different.

"Hi Kikyo." Kagura greeted.

"Hello Kikyo-nee-chan." Kanna greeted with a bow.

Kikyo nodded. "Hi." Kikyo walked over to Bankotsu's bed and put her book bag on the ground.

"So, did you like the piano we put in for you?" Kagura asked with a polite smile.

Kikyo nodded. "Yeah, thank you."

"So…" Kagura trailed off.

"Onigumo-onii-chan is at the mental ward." Kanna finished for her.

Kikyo turned to the two and waited for them to continue.

"He'll be there for a minimum of one year, but they won't release him until he's completely better." Kagura informed.

"That's it?"

"Yeah." Kagura sighed. "He said he still loves you and it's not his fault."

Kikyo gave a bitter scoff. "He hit Bankotsu with a car and he said it's not his fault? He got out of the car and laughed and said Bankotsu deserved it and it's not his fault?" She said, as she got louder after each word.

"Kikyo," Kagura paused and sighed. "They diagnosed him with a case of schizophrenia. Onii-san claims there's a voice in his head that told him to do it and its' name is Naraku. He says that the voice is always telling him to do all the 'bad, crazy things."

"Either way, it's still Onigumo that did it. Even if it was his subconscious that told him to."

"True." Kagura agreed and gave another sigh. "Well, we better leave then. Let's go Kanna. Bye Kikyo." Kagura stood up and made her way to the door.

"Bye Onee-chan." Kanna said with a bow.

"Bye." Kikyo took a seat next to Banktosu's bed. She put a hand on his and her other hand gripped the sheets. Pain filled her eyes as angry tears ran down her cheeks. "I'll never forgive him for what he did to you."

Kikyo spent an hour at the hospital before she made her way to the music school—Tama Piano School.

Inuyasha was walking down the street and froze when he looked over to the other side of the road. He remembered the way her long black hair flowed behind her and how the green skirt from the sailor uniform she always wore lifted a little when she walked. "Kagome!" He shouted and ran to the corner of the street. Angrily, he pushed the crossing signal button as fast as he could. "Come on, come on." He muttered to himself—his patience wearing thin.

"Yes!" He shouted as the signal to cross flashed on. Keeping his eyes on who he thought was Kagome, he ran across the street as fast as he could. "Kagome! Kagome!" He shouted, but she was too far to hear. "Damn it." He muttered and pushed through the crowds. "Move!"

Kikyo walked through the entrance and headed to her private practice room.

"You came." Midoriko said with a smile.

Kikyo nodded. "Uh huh."

"Alright, have fun practicing."

Kikyo nodded and walked to her practice room.

Inuyasha panted for breath as he pushed through the doors and looked around for 'Kagome'. 'What would she be doing in a piano school?' Inuyasha wondered as he walked through the halls. He looked through every window on the door—trying to find her.

The people in the practice rooms ranged from being little kids to grown adults. The further he walked down the hallway, the louder a certain song became. Just like how Kikyo played her pieces, this one was beautiful as well—something that calmed him and peaceful. He followed the melody down the hall, hoping to find the pianist as his first goal was pushed to the back of his mind.

Finally, he stopped and noticed the melody coming out of the one room in front of him. He looked through the window and his face lit up. And there he saw it—the long black hair and the green uniform that he was looking for earlier. "Kago—" His face fell and stopped his sentence midair. No, it wasn't his Kagome; it was the new girl instead. He paused and stood outside the door.

"Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; composed in 1888." Midoriko said from behind him.

He turned with a surprised look on his face and quickly recomposed his cool demeanor. He glanced back at the window and nodded. "I see."

"I'm the owner of this school, Shikon Midoriko." She extended out a hand and gave a warm smile.

Inuyasha nodded. "Tessaiga Inuyasha." He shook her hand.

"Midoriko walked over to the door and quietly opened it. "Why don't you come on in?"

"It's okay." He slowly took a step back.

Midoriko grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room. "Non-sense. Now hush, she's still playing the piece."

Inuyasha tried to protest at first, but once he got inside, he couldn't help but feel mesmerized by the tune. He stood still and kept his gaze on her, as if he was in a trance.

Quietly, Midoriko slowly backed out of the room and closed the door. She ran and grabbed a chair—blocking the exit by making the door stuck. Midoriko then grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She got a piece of tape and taped the note onto the window for only them to see. Midoriko hummed a small tune to herself as she turned around and walked off to her office with a sly smile on her face.

The playing in the room stopped when Kikyo finally noticed the gaze that was on her. She turned her head around—dark brown eyes meeting golden ones. Her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed once she saw his face.

He responded with the same. "Rude."

She kept her glare.

"What?" He asked with an annoyed look.

"…" Her glare was still on him.

"Well?"

"Leave." She said in a threatening tone.

"Keh. It's not like I wanted to be here anyways. That lady brought me in here." He said as he pointed to where Midoriko was standing previously.

Kikyo raised a brow, seeing that there was no one next to him.

"What?" He turned his head and cursed. "Stupid old hag." He muttered under his breath. "She was here just a moment ago." He defended.

"Leave." Kikyo simply repeated. It was evident that she didn't enjoy his company what so ever.

"Keh. I was going to anyways." He turned to the door and pushed it, but the door was jammed. "What the hell?"

Kikyo raised her brow as she observed Inuyasha trying to force the door open with all his mite.

Inuyasha turned his head to Kikyo. "Hey, a little help over here!"

Kikyo crossed her arms and gave him an uncaring look.

"You know, if you don't help me with this, it just means that I'm gonna be stuck in here with you for a long, LONG time." He said with a smirk.

Kikyo growled and reluctantly stood up from the bench and stomped to the door. She tried helping Inuyasha push the door open, but it wouldn't dare to budge. She grumbled to herself and looked at the window. "Hm?" Her brows slightly furrowed in curiosity.

"Dear Kikyo and her friend,

Locked you two in here for a while, so enjoy each other's company!

From,

Shikon-sensei." Inuyasha read aloud. "WHAT THE HELL!" Inuyasha yelled in frustration. "What is this old hag thinking?" His brows furrowed and eyes narrowed as he slammed his fist into the door. "Hey! Get me out!" He yelled, banging on the door.

Kikyo grabbed his fist and shot him a look.

"Hey, let go! I'm trying to get us out of here!"

"You're disturbing the other students and their lessons." She said with slight irritation as she made her way back to the piano.

"How can you be so relaxed about this?" He asked with anger.

Kikyo sighed. "Knowing Shikon-sensei, she probably put a sign on the other side of the door saying something along the lines of, 'whatever happens, do not open this door."

Inuyasha let out a groan and walked over to the wall to sit down against it. "So you were playing Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov?"

Kikyo lightly placed her fingers on the keys and gave him a slightly shocked look. She gave him a slow nod. "How did you know?"

"Your sensei told me."

"Oh." Kikyo said and turned back to the piano. Her fingers moved and continued playing the rest of the Scheherazade piece.

"So what's so great about this piece anyways? It's sounds boring and whatever to me." He crossed him arms in ignorance.

Kikyo pursed her lips slightly and ignored his question as she focused on her playing.

"So?"

"…"

"If you don't tell me, I'm just gonna keep on asking."

"…"

"So?"

"…"

"So? So? So? So? So? So? So—"

"It's the story called _101 Nights_, which is about a King that was betrayed by his first love. So in result, he had her killed and so everyday since then, he would marry a virgin and then behead her the next morning. But one girl that tried to escape death, would tell him a story right before they went to sleep and the King would be so interested that he would make her stay up all night to tell the story. But when sunrise came, she didn't finish her story, so the King surprisingly let her live for another day. The girl soon figured out that if she left the King lingering for more, then she would live a longer life. She told stories for a hundred and one days, until she finally ran out of stories. Waiting to be beheaded the next morning, the King once again surprised everyone. Instead of having her killed, he let her live, because during those a hundred and one nights, he fell in love with her." Kikyo quickly explained, hoping that it would shut him up for once.

"So it's a love story." Inuyasha concluded and Kikyo nodded her head. "Hm, I guess that's pretty cool then."

Minutes passed and Kikyo was still not finished with her piece. Slowly, Inuyasha's mind cleared as he drifted off into a peaceful slumber. Man, he hadn't had such a good sleep in a long time. Her playing was just really soothing to him.

After a few more minutes, Kikyo finally finished Scheherazade. She sighed and turned to see Inuyasha. She was curious as to why he wasn't making any more comments, but she saw why—he simply fell asleep. _'Hm,'_ she thought when she saw his surprisingly peaceful face. _'He isn't _that_ bad when he looks this calm…I guess…'_ Kikyo observed. For some reason that she didn't understand, she just couldn't look away from him. There was just _something_ about him that slightly peeked her interest. SLIGHTLY. But, Kikyo simply just shrugged it off and thought back to the fact that she already had someone waiting for her to be there when he woke up. Kikyo sighed again and turned back to the piano and began playing her favorite song, Fur Elise.

Little did the two know; Midoriko had long ago removed the chair—unblocking the door. But hey, that just meant that the two were able to spend more time together. Wink. Wink.

* * *

**Alright! there's chapter 2! :D**

**hope you guys enjoyed it!**

SesshomaruLover4evr**: Thank you for adding this story to your fave story and story alerts! :D Glad you liked it! ^^**

tatoo26**: Glad you liked this story as well! :D **

Harmony101**: I finally updated :) hope you like this chapter as well ^^**

Terra**: Wow, glad you liked this one :] Hm...I haven't decided on whether Bankotsu would die or not... :/ Haha, thanks. I think i have good taste in music as well LOL i'm still working on the crazy love triangle :] Um, Kagome and Kikyo's dad didn't exactly "leave". It's more of a metaphor I guess. lol Thanks for the song suggestions! If you get anymore song ideas just tell me! :] It helps a lot :D**

StarPrincess999**: Thanks for adding my story to your alert page! And i'm really happy that you like it! :D **

**That's it for now!**

**And P.S. If you guys have any song suggestions, that would be REALLY helpful! And also, I would like the message of the song! :] It would help my story progress much faster :] **

**Thanks again everyone! :D**

**_- sportiegrl out~_  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Murderer

**Disclaimer: Inuyasha and characters are property of Takahashi Rumiko.**

_**Keys to **__Love_** is property of sportiegrl.**

**Enjoy! :]  
**

**Chapter 3: Murderer**

"Inuyasha, where you going?" Miroku asked as he unwrapped his melon bread and sat in front of Sango's desk.

"To sleep, what else?" Inuyasha stretched his arms and stood from his desk. It was something he did everyday for lunch since Kagome was gone.

"Fine then. Just to let you know; if you leave, you wont get to learn anything about the new school beauty." Miroku said in a sly singsong voice.

Inuyasha scoffed. "Keh, and who would that be?"

"The girl you sit next to of course, Higurashi Kikyo. She's only been here for a few days and she has a great amount of admirers already!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I care why?"

"It's related to Kagome." Miroku said with a sly smirk.

He froze and turned to Miroku with a confused look. "What is it?"

Miroku turned to Sango and nodded, signaling for her to tell the story.

"Well Souta was over at my house last night hanging out with Kohaku." Sango began.

"_Tadaima!" Sango's voice rang through the house as she took off her shoes._

"_Meow." A tiny, pale yellow cat with red eyes, black paws, and two black stripes on her tail greeted._

"_Hey there Kirara." Sango grinned and kneeled down to pet her cat._

_Kirara purred and meowed in delight. Sango smiled and stood up. "Kohaku, you home?" She called as she walked through the living room and to her younger brother's bedroom. "Kohaku?" She knocked on his door and slowly opened it. _

"_Hey nee-chan." Kohaku—a younger and male version of Sango—greeted with a grin. _

"_Hi Sango-nee-chan." Souta greeted as well. The two boys were sitting on the floor reading magazines and comics, probably to put off doing their homework._

"_Hey Souta." Sango greeted back._

"_Oh, Sango-nee-chan, have you met my cousin at school yet?" Souta asked, looking up from the magazine in his hands._

"_Your cousin?" She said with confusion. _'He couldn't possibly mean…'

_Souta nodded. "Yeah, my cousin Kikyo-nee-chan. Her full name is Higurashi Kikyo. She moved in with us a couple weeks ago."_

"_Ah!" Sango's jaw dropped. "Then my suspicion was right!" _

"_You didn't know she was my cousin?"_

"_Well, no one really knew…"_

"_I thought it was kind of obvious since they look alike and have the same last name." Souta said with a thoughtful expression._

"_Eh, yeah, I guess." Sango truly felt like an idiot now. "Well anyways, yeah, I met her. She sits behind me." An idea came to mind. "Hey Souta."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Can you perhaps tell me more about Kikyo?" Sango asked with a sweet smile._

_Souta's face was doubtful._

"_I just want to get to know her more." She persisted._

"_I don't know…why don't you jut ask her about herself?"_

"_But she hardly talks. Come on Souta, it'll be fine." She pleaded._

_Souta sighed. "I guess then." Persistence and peer pressure was definitely a deadly combination._

"So what did the kid tell you?" Inuyasha asked with interest.

Miroku and Sango raised a brow at him.

Inuyasha crossed his arms with a cough and looked away with his nose in the air. "Not like I care."

The two sitting at the desk exchanged looks and shrugged.

"Well, it turns out that Kagome her uncle—Kikyo's father—were coming back from Kikyo's piano competition, which is why they were on the plane that crashed." Sango explained.

"I didn't see her at the funeral though." Miroku said,

"Apparently she was there, but she arrived late—after we left because she just got back from finishing her winner's event that day. They didn't tell her about the crash until she reached the airport because people were afraid it would ruin her concentration to play."

"So Inuyasha, how do you—Inuyasha?" Miroku looked around, only to see that his best friend wasn't standing next to their desk anymore.

* * *

Inuyasha dashed through the corridors and dodged the mob of people in the hallway as he rushed to the music room. He finally made it and slid the door open with a bang. The sound of the piano that filled the room was slowly exiting the room to the corridor. He walked in and slid the door close.

It was still pretty early for Kikyo to be in the music room, but she forgot her bento and money at home. So there was no point in going to the roof if she didn't have any food to eat. Might as well just go straight to the piano.

"Hey. You're Kagome's cousin?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Kikyo eyes concentrated on the keys and ignored his question. _'Guess they finally figured it out.'_

"Hey." His voice was more forceful this time.

Kikyo ignored him still and played another measure of Scheherazade. She was barely in the beginning of the piece.

Inuyasha was not one known for his patience. "Stop playing that damn song and answer me you damn murderer!" He yelled and slammed the hood of the piano down with his fist. His angry voice overtook the sound of the piano and filled the room in its stead. His angry, golden eyes narrowed down at her as he grit his teeth.

"_Murder. A good for nothing murderer." _

The voice played through her mind as she froze. Her fingers still held down the E and C keys. She turned to him with traumatized, wide eyes.

"_Yup, it was her. It was her fault that her father and sweet Kagome died."_

"Keh, don't look at me like that. Trying to act like you're the victim, when it's your fault that your own father and Kagome died." He said with disgust and anger. "Don't you dare try to play innocent. You know as well as I do that this is _your _fault. If Kagome didn't go see your competition, then she would've still been here with me now. The reason why she—!"

SLAP!

Redness began forming on his left cheek. His face was forced to turn to the right due to the power of the slap. He turned and stared at Kikyo with shocked eyes. At first, the shock came from the fact that someone actually slapped him, but the reason changed once he saw her expression. Her right hand was still up in the air, but it quivered slightly. Her eyes were full of mixed emotions; sadness, anger, pain. He, for once, was speechless.

Tears formed in her eyes—threatening to fall, but she did her best to hide it in. No, she wasn't going to cry or be emotional in front of this bastard. Kikyo turned her head away and quickly darted out the room, opening and slamming the door shut.

Inuyasha stayed in the same spot—speechless. He slowly turned around and stared at the door. He just froze when he saw that expression of hers. The look in her eyes just made his mind go blank and his heart heavy. The words 'screwed up' ran through his mind over and over again as well as the look on her face. It was something he wanted with all his might to take back, but he knew that wasn't going to happen.

* * *

Sesshomaru was quite pleased with the fact that the girl wasn't on his roof for once. He was finally to have his peaceful meal. He finished and looked at his watch, _'10 minutes left. Might as well start heading down.'_ He stood up and made his way to the door. He reached for the knob, but he didn't hear the footsteps running up the stairs, all he heard was the small click coming from the door. He saw the knob turn and the door swing open. He quickly jumped back and avoided the door hitting him in the face.

Kikyo, however, didn't see him standing there and ran right into him.

He grunted when she ran into him, but he managed to balance himself out so that the two wouldn't topple over. He growled. "Watch whe—"

Kikyo didn't move and she couldn't hold her tears in anymore. She kept her head down and leaned against Sesshomaru's broad chest. She dropped her book bag on the ground and brought her small hands up to cling onto the front of his uniform.

Sesshomaru stayed still. What was he supposed to do? He never encountered a situation like this, so exactly what was he supposed to do: console her or push her away? "Hey." He tried to get her attention.

"P-please." She managed to stutter out with a shaky voice.

"…" Sesshomaru stayed silent and sighed. He put a hand on her head and smoothed out her hair. _'Challenging me and getting on my nerves one day, crying in my arms the next. What a weird girl.'_

Moments later, Kikyo finally calmed down and sat in front of the fence. She brought her legs up to her chest and looked past the fence—at the scenery in front of her outside the school walls.

Sesshomaru walked over to her right and stood in front of the fence as well—staring at the same scenery.

"Thank you." Kikyo said in an almost inaudible voice.

"You made my uniform wet."

"Sorry."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. The wind blew at them and she closed her red eyes as the wind came to her. It blew her hair back, causing it to flutter in the wind behind her. Honestly, Sesshomaru thought that she was actually really pretty. If you take away the bloodshot eyes and replaced them with their usual color, she was quite the beauty. She wasn't like those other girls, the crazy fan girls and gossip queens that only thought of the latest fashion trends and hottest stars. He heard in the teacher's office that she was smart enough to rival him as number one in school. Other than the fact that she was pretty melancholy and didn't partake in sports—which he heard from the teachers as well—she wasn't that bad.

Sesshomaru sighed, turning his head back to the fence. "I guess it won't be that bad if you eat up here."

Kikyo turned to him with a surprised look, which he caught from the corner of his eyes.

"I mean; you probably have no one else to eat with right?" He shrugged.

Kikyo nodded in agreement.

Sesshomaru smirked. "Very honest you are."

"So I've been told."

Sesshomaru glanced at his watch. "Class started a while ago."

"I don't wanna go back."

"Are you planning on ditching?"

Kikyo nodded.

Sesshomaru turned around and made his way to the door. "Wait for me at the entrance."

Sesshomaru walked into his classroom—3-A.

"Tessaiga-san, why are you late?" A middle aged man asked.

Sesshomaru ignored him and walked to his desk, grabbing his book bag.

"Tessaiga-san, answer me." The teacher demanded.

Sesshomaru shot him a look, causing the teacher to freeze. Knowing that this finally shut the teacher up, he walked out of the room and made his way to the entrance of the school.

"You're here." He stated when he saw Kikyo waiting for him.

Kikyo nodded. "How are we getting out? The gates are closed."

"Oi! Shouldn't you kids be in class?" A teacher shouted as he ran over to the two. "What do you kids—oh, Tessaiga-san! What are you doing here?"

Sesshomaru glanced at Kikyo and back to the teacher. "She's feeling sick, so I'm taking her home."

"Oh, then let me open the gate for you." The teacher grinned. He unlocked the gate and pulled it open, wide enough for the two to walk through.

Sesshomaru nodded and walked out, while Kikyo gave a small nod and a slightly inaudible "thank you."

The teacher gave a low whistle. "They're really alike. No wonder they get along."

"Thank you." Kikyo said in a low voice.

Sesshomaru simply nodded. "Where are we going?"

Kikyo shrugged. "I could treat you."

He shook his head. "Something else."

Kikyo paused. "Do you like music?"

"Classical."

"Piano?"

He nodded. "Yes, quite much."

Kikyo nodded and walked ahead. "Follow me."

* * *

'_Tama Piano School'_ Sesshomaru thought to himself as he walked in through the doors behind Kikyo.

"Kikyo! What are you doing here during school hours?" Midoriko shouted through the halls as she ran to the two. "Ditching is bad! What are you doing here?" She demanded with a huff.

"Things happened." Kikyo simply said.

"What kinds of _things_?"

Kikyo cast her eyes down.

Midoriko sighed and rubbed her temples. "Fine, fine. Stay here. But don't be expecting me to let you do this again. Got that?"

Kikyo nodded. "Hai."

Midoriko finally noticed the guy with the emotionless expression standing behind Kikyo. "And he is…?"

Kikyo looked back and exchanged a look with him. "An acquaintance."

Midoriko pursed her lips for a second and shrugged. "Whatever." She walked away.

"This way." Kikyo led them down the hall and to her private room. She opened the door and walked over to her piano. She lifted the hood and uncovered the keys. She sat down and pressed the C key as always and let it ring throughout the room.

'_Pianist as well? Impressive.'_ Sesshomaru thought as he stood next to the wall.

"There's a chair in the corner. You can move it."

Sesshomaru nodded and grabbed the chair, moving it to where he was standing previously. He took a seat, crossing his legs by resting his right ankle on his left thigh. He crossed his arms as well and watched her, waiting for her to begin.

"Any requests?"

"Watermark by Enya."

Kikyo nodded. "A song that some believe represents the Latin language, some think of it as a powerful prophecy, while others think of it as something along the lines of 'my journey ends here." She began the beginning measures of the song.

* * *

Inuyasha kept glancing over at the seat next to him, wondering what happened to the new transfer student. He tapped his fingers on his desk impatiently, waiting to see if she was gonna slide the door open and walk in or just magically pop up in the chair beside him. He growled, another minute and nothing.

One would say that Inuyasha was always a strange character, but for some reason, he was—at the moment—stranger than usual.

He didn't know why he was getting irritated with every passing minute she wasn't there. Shouldn't he be happy, enthusiastic, jumping for joy that she finally got out of Kagome's seat? Then why wasn't he? How come it felt like he royally screwed up and wanted her to walk through the door and sit down next to him?

Inuyasha gave an exasperated growl and stood up in a huff. "Damn it!" He grabbed his bag and walked to the door.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing!" Shippo shouted.

"Shut up old man." He slid the door open and slammed it shut after walking out.

Shippo growled and slid the door open with a bang. "Old man? I'm only 23! You little brat!" He shouted in the corridor.

"Sakurai-sensei…?" A young woman in from the classroom across of his looked at him with curiosity. Her short black hair was pulled in a ponytail as she peeked her head through the door. The 22-year-old Matsumoto Satsuki gave him a questioning look with her black eyes.

"Ah, nothing, nothing." Shippo gave an awkward laugh and embarrassed smile as he quickly rushed back into the classroom and closed the door.

Satsuki giggled to herself and went back inside.

"Eh~ so sensei has a little crush going on huh?" Miroku said with a wink and smirk.

"Don't be stupid." Shippo retorted.

"Maybe we should write a love umbrella for you!" Miroku suggested with a sly smile.

"Shut it Kazana, unless you want trash duty after school today." Directing a glare at Miroku.

"Alright, alright." Surrendering, Miroku put his hands up in front of him—palm facing forward.

Inuyasha walked along the street, having no idea where he was. He just let his feet take him to wherever they pleased. He successfully hopped the school wall without being caught earlier, but now he didn't even know where to go. Definitely not home, he wasn't hungry so no café, so where was there to go? The park? Nah, nothing to do there either. How long has it even been since he left school? He checked his phone, "15 minutes."

"Shit, there's nothing to do! I'm freaking bored!" He shouted and kicked the side of the building in front of him.

"Excuse me, please refrain from trying to destroy my property." And elegant voice called in front of him.

He looked up only to see that Midoriko was standing before him.

"Ah, you are…" She put a finger on her lips, recalling a memory. "Inuyasha am I correct?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"You came to see Kikyo the other day."

"No, no—"

"Well," she crossed her arms in a huff. "Even if you are Kikyo's friend, you can't just go around damaging my or anyone else's property as you please. Got it?"

"I'm not Kikyo's—"

"I _said_ 'got it?" Midoriko threatened as she furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes down at him.

"…Yeah."

"Good, now shouldn't you be in school?" She looked at her watch. "It's still pretty early for you kids to be let out."

"I left."

"Ah, did you come looking for Kikyo? She's inside." She gestured through the doors. "Did you wanna go in?"

Inuyasha paused for a moment and looked at the doors, debating whether he should go in or not. "I guess." He shrugged.

Midoriko opened the door. "This is the last time I'm letting any of you ditch. I'm only letting it slide this _one time_, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"It's yes ma'am! Respect your elders!" She smacked him over the head.

"Ow! Fine, damn it!"

"Yes ma'am! Say it!" She pinched him in the arm this time.

"Yes ma'am!" He shouted in anger and pain.

"Good." She nodded. "She's in the back room as usual."

Inuyasha walked down the hall after Midoriko left to her office. What exactly was he gonna do when he saw her? She probably doesn't even want to talk to him or least, look at him. Not after what he did. Exactly, what _did_ he do? It's not like he wasn't wrong. He just said what the truth was. If she hadn't told Kagome to go see her stupid competition crap, then Kagome wouldn't have died. It's only the truth. So there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. He was right and had the right to blame Kikyo for it…right?

Inuyasha heard a soft, harmonious sound echo through the hallways. It sounded as if there were no mistakes form what he heard, so it must have been Kikyo. He was going to just turn the knob and walk in; that was until he set his gaze on the window. It was Kikyo playing at the piano and was that…Sesshomaru sitting in a chair near her? What was he doing there? When and how did the two meet? How come she hasn't threatened to kick _him _out yet and why is she reluctantly playing for him? And does he actually look _pleased_ to be there? The man that hates anything and everything beside himself is _actually_ enjoying the company of another?

Numerous questions ran through Inuyasha's head. He froze and stared on. Replacing the pained feeling inside of him rose a new feeling. One that seemed vaguely familiar, but it was also one that he tried his best to deny—jealously. Jealously, "keh" he scoffed. What was there to be jealous of? His older brother was in the piano room with the new murdering transfer student. Exactly _what_ was there to be jealous of?

Although numerous questions and thoughts ran through his head, there was one that was stuck in his mind and wouldn't leave. Why were they together? Subconsciously, Inuyasha's grip tightened around the doorknob as he clenched his jaw. A flash of anger mixed with pain ran across his eyes as he released the knob and turned away—walking back down the hall.

* * *

It was a while since Kikyo left the piano school and parted ways with Sesshomaru. She was not currently at the hospital, sitting next to Bankotsu's bed, holding his hand.

"_You damn murderer!"_

Inuyasha's voice echoed through her mind as she sat there with a blank stare. This, this was something she had buried deep inside of her. It was something that took her a long time to overcome. And now, it was back to haunt her.

"I know." She said in a low voice as she clutched onto Bankotsu's hand even tighter.

_Finally arriving at the funeral for her cousin and father, Kikyo quickly rushed out of her car with a look of disbelief. Her legs carried her as fast as they could to the shrine holding their funeral portraits._

"_Kikyo…" Bankotsu trailed with sad eyes. "I…" He just couldn't continue with it. He knew the two were the only people closest to her besides him. He was sympathetic, for he went through something similar as well._

_Kikyo stared at the pictures with blank eyes. So much pain filled inside of her that for some reason, she couldn't even cry. Or maybe it was just that she didn't want to cry. All she did was stand there and stare with disbelief and shock. A part of her wanted to wish this whole thing was a dream, but it was all just too realistic._

"_That's her right there." The whispers of the family and family friends were brought to her ears._

"_If she didn't have her competition, then our sweet Kagome would've still been here." A lady sighed._

"_If her father didn't marry that good for nothing wench, then that _girl_ wouldn't be here either." Another pointed at Kikyo and sneered._

"_Yup, it was her. It was her fault that her father and sweet Kagome died." Another tisked._

"_Murder. A good for nothing murderer." _

"_I can't believe she even had the nerve to show up."_

_One scoffed. "Even though she did show up, she had the nerve to show up late. What a horrible child. Late to her own father and cousin's funeral."_

_Bankotsu shot them a look, which quickly shut them up._

"_But who is she going to be staying with?" One questioned. "I wouldn't want her at my house. She might bring me bad luck or cause me to die as well!" _

"_Same here, I'm not taking her in." Another agreed. "Wait, what's Nodoka doing, walking over to her?"_

"_Kikyo." Nodoka said in a pained, yet strong voice. Her eyes were puffed, red, and teary, but that it didn't show in her voice. "If you don't mind, since your mother is not around and your father is gone…would you like to live with me?" She asked in a gentle and motherly smile._

_Kikyo's eyes widened. This woman was actually offering to house the girl that was the cause of her daughter and brother's death? Has she gone mad?_

"_Nodoka!" A lady pulled her over to the side. "What do you think you're doing!" She demanded. "You actually want to _house_ that-that _murderer_? Did you not forget that she was the reason your daughter and brother died?"_

_Nodoka shook her head. "She didn't kill them." She cast her eyes downward. "It was the plane malfunctions. Kikyo isn't the one to blame."_

_The lady shook her head. "You are too kind-hearted Nodoka. But don't tell me I didn't warn you, this child will bring you nothing but grief and harm."_

_Nodoka shook her head and walked back over to Kikyo. "So how 'bout it Kikyo?" _

"…"

_Nodoka smile. "I'm not saying you have to, but you can if you want. And there isn't a deadline on when you can move in. Just move in when you feel like it okay?" _

"…" _Kikyo nodded._

"_Then, bye." Nodoka waved and walked away to talk to leave and bi the other visitors farewell. Leaving only Bankotsu and Kikyo left in the room._

"_Kikyo, what are you going to do?" Bankotsu asked with worry._

_She shrugged and stared on at the portraits._

"_If anything, you can live with me at my apartment." He wrapped at hand around her small ones. "It's a little small, but it can hold two if I make room." He gave a small smile._

"_I wouldn't want to intrude."_

"_It's fine." He grinned. "I don't mind at all."_

"…" _She looked up at his grinning face. "I guess so."_

"_Alright." He grinned. "We can start moving whenever you're ready."_

_Kikyo nodded and turned back to the shrine._

"_Hey." He said in a low voice. "It's not your fault." _

_Kikyo's eyes began to tear._

_He walked in front of her and put his arms around her, bringing her into his broad chest. "It was a plane malfunction and it happened just by chance." _

_They finally fell, making trails after trails down her cheeks, and falling to the floor._

_He ran his left hand through her soft, ebony hair. "You aren't a murderer. It was in no way your fault."_

_She brought her hands up to cling onto the front of his shirt as she buried her head into his chest. This has got to be the second time that Bankotsu ever saw this side of he. This side of Kikyo that was so fragile, weak, vulnerable and for once, crying her heart out._

"_Sh, it's okay. It's going to be okay." He soothed. His gentle and strong arms secured themselves tighter around her thin frame, as if telling her that he was always going to be by her side. _

_Kikyo sobbed all day long into her beloved's chest. She heard what he was saying but it was something else that constantly ran through her mind and wouldn't leave. Something that plagued her—a phrase that she would never forget._

"I'm a murderer."

* * *

**Alright!**

**How was that?**

**Emotional? Or not? o.O**

KIKXSESSHY**: As a KikyoxSesshomaru fan, I wonder if you will like this chapter. :] Thanks for adding this to your faves! :D**

Terra**: Haha, yeah that's how they died. Oh, it took me a while to think of it, but thanks :] hmm...haven't decided yet x] but when i do decide, i'm not letting the secret out ;] Haha Bankotsu and Kikyo are cute together in this! agree 100%! :D And I actually have something to say about them two, which will be at the end of all my notes, so wait for it ;] Haha, you read about **Scheherazade**. i saw it on tv LOL P.S if you didn't know, **_Our Own Fairytale_** was updated ;] and so far, i have had some pretty good reviews about the latest chappie ;]**

Organic Donut with SPRINKLES**: Hey there :] Glad you like my latest story :D haha yes, i find that she would be the type to think something else is more interesting that little gossipers that are just talking about her :] thank you :D Yeah, i thought the same thing. Bankotsu + soccer = CONNECTION! Yeah, i'm in band lol but i'm not the type portrayed on tv. I DO have a social life and i get the guys. :P lol oh and P.S if you didn't read earlier...**_Our Own Fairytale _**has been updated ;] so check it out! :D **

tatoo26**: Hahaha i like her attitude as well :D Hahaha about your hope,... ;] and ahahaha **_Our Own Fairytale_** and **_I Promise_** is updated!**

StarPrincess999**: Glad you liked it! :]**

**Haha, i feel like i'm subliminal messaging...but who cares! Please check out my other InuyashaxKikyo story, **_Our Own Fairytale_** ;]**

**And also! I have a question for you guys. Would you guy actually want to read a porlogue to this story? The beginning, where it all started with Bankotsu and Kikyo. And how Kikyo fell in love for the first time? :D? **

**So? Tell me what you guys think! About the idea and the chapter! :D **

**Thanks again guys!**

**hope you liked this chappie! :D **

**_- sportiegrl out~_  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Day From School

**Disclaimer: Inuyasha and characters are property of Takahashi Rumiko.**

**_Keys to Love_ is property of sportiegrl**

**ENJOY :D  
**

**Chapter 4: Day From School**

_Kikyo looked around and surveyed her surroundings. Surrounding her was nothing but green lush and a clear blue sky. _

"_Kikyo." _

_She heard her name being called from behind her. She turned to see who it was, but stopped when a pair of arms pulled her back. Pulling her down and into a firm, built chest._

"_Kikyo." The voice repeated._

_Recognizing the voice, a tiny smile was set on her face as she leaned comfortably into his chest. "Bankotsu." The two leaned against a giant tree. One that seemed to be there for years and years, like the Goshinboku tree at the family shrine._

_Bankotsu tightened his arms around her as he buried his face in her hair and pressed his smiling lips against her head. He took a deep breath in, taking in her vanilla scent, and let out a content sigh. " I haven't felt this relaxed in years."_

"_Mhm." Kikyo nodded in agreement. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back and let her shoulders droop into relaxation._

"_Kikyo…" A female's voice whispered in the wind._

_Kikyo's eyes snapped open. Looking left and right, she tried to find who it was that called her name. "Bankotsu, did you-Bankotsu?" She looked behind her only to find that her boyfriend was no longer there, neither was the giant tree. The lush green grass was slowly changing colors. The deep red liquid was slowly tainting the green grass as it oozed around her and the blue sky became a black, eerie one._

"_Wha-blood?" She quickly stood up; fear was slowly overcoming her. Where was all this blood coming from? Why was there so much?_

"_Ki-ki…kyo…" The same feminine voice called out, but instead of the same echoing sound, the voice was cracked and weary. _

_She spun around and tried finding the owner of the voice. "Who's there?" _

_Suddenly, a hand shot out from the ground and wrapped its bloody fingers around Kikyo's ankles. _

"_AHH!" She yelled in fear when she felt the hand grab her. She looked down at the hand and watched as the blood slowly slid off of the owner's body. Her eyes widened when she saw the owner's face. "Ka-kagome." She stuttered and fell to the floor in shock._

_Kagome's body was a wreck: blood oozed from the many wounds on her body and tears of blood flowed from her eyes and down her cheeks. She was out of energy, weak as a fly, as she used some of her strength to hold onto Kikyo's ankle with one hand and she used the rest of her strength to speak. "Kikyo…" Kagome coughed, spluttering out some blood in the process. "You—" Her voice stopped and her eyes widened as her grip around Kikyo's ankle loosened. She fell completely to the blood covered ground with a splash, causing a ripple effect in the bloody pool._

_Still in shock, Kikyo watched the ripples with fear filled eyes as they reached out further and further away from Kagome's dead body. The ripples slowly lead to another body lying on the ground._

"_H-help!" Its weak voice called out. "Please…" It begged._

_It was another familiar voice to Kikyo, but she just couldn't place it. _

"_Help…" It called again, but weaker this time. _

_Kikyo knew for sure that it was a man this time, but whom?_

"_Kikyo…please…" Pleading, he called again with a weaker voice._

_Somehow, the man's features were more apparent. His black hair and brown eyes were now existent, but the blood on his skin made him seem a lot paler than he was supposed to be. His left leg was severed off as blood continuously flowed from the wound. How strange Kikyo thought, the wound was just like her father's when he died in the crash._

_A tear ran down her cheek as realization hit her. Her hands were shaking, unable to grasp the images before her._

"_H-help me…" Her father pleaded breathlessly as he tried reaching out to her._

_She didn't move. Her fear was overwhelming her._

"_Please…Ki—!" The same thing happened to him as it did to Kagome. His arm and face fell into the pool of blood and rippled once again formed around Kikyo._

_Kikyo's breathing quickened its natural pace—each breath, inhaled and exhaled, shortened. "No. No, no, no, no!" She quickly shouted as she shook her head. "No. No." She kept muttering to herself, as if it would make everything better. "I-I need to get out of here!" She was definitely losing it._

_In the heat of the moment, she crawled backward as fast as she could and eventually turned around, getting up on her feet and ran away—opposite from the bodies._

_She looked around as she ran, searching for any sign of an exit. As she ran, she paid no attention to what else was on the floor besides the blood, including the third body that appeared. _

_She gave a cry as she tripped over the body and hit the floor. She grunted and turned her head back to see what she tripped over as she slightly lifted herself off the floor. Her eyes widened and her heart dropped. Her breathing quickened it's normal pace. Her eyes began to tear up as her lips parted and quivered. _

_Kikyo sat up and hesitantly crawled over to the body. Her arms and legs were shaking as she made her way to the body. _

_His long black hair was soaked with red. His eyes were open and lips were parted. Blood flowed from his mouth as well from the cuts all over his body. The cut on his forehead was open and a large amount of blood flowed out of it. _

"_No…no, Bankotsu." She whimpered. Kikyo snaked an arm under his neck and pulled him into her arms. Salty tears ran down her cheeks as he held onto him. "No, no, please no." She cried._

_A chuckle rang in the atmosphere. "Kikyo." The voice made Kikyo freeze. That chilling and cold voice brought instant fear to her. _

_Silence filled the air and Kikyo waited for the voice to speak again. For a girl who enjoyed silence, this eerie silence made her uncomfortable. _

_Another chuckle filled the air. "What's wrong Kikyo? I thought you would miss me." _

_She looked left and right, but she couldn't find the him anywhere._

_His chuckle gave her shivers down her spine. A hand reached up and caressed her cheek. At that instant, all the color on her face drained, turning her pale. Fearful and slowly, her eyes followed the hand and arm to where it connected to the body in her arms. Her eyes widened when she saw that the body in her arms wasn't Bankotsu, but a man with long, wavy, black hair and piercing red eyes. _

_The name Onigumo ran through her mind._

_A chuckle escaped from his lips. "Miss me?" A mischievous smile crept up his lips._

_Kikyo tried screaming, but she couldn't find her voice. Her breathing quickened once again._

_His deep voice snickered. His red eyes taunted her and he weaved his hand through her hair._

_She shuttered. She mustered up all her courage and pushed Onigumo out of her arms as she let out an ear-piercing scream._

Kikyo snapped her eyes open and sprang up from her bed with a scream. A cold sweat covered her body as she gasped for air.

"Kikyo, are you okay?" Nodoka rushed into her room with worry. "What's wrong? Why were you screaming?"

Kikyo put a hand on her head and gave a slow nod. "I'm okay. Just had a nightmare."

"Are you sure?" Nodoka put a soothing hand on Kikyo's head.

"Yes."

"Alright. That's good. How about you take a break from school today?" Nodoka suggested.

Kikyo nodded. "Okay."

* * *

Inuyasha walked in late as usual in class.

"Tessaiga-san, late again." Shippo said with annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah." Inuyasha waved his hand and walked to his seat. He dropped his bag on floor, next to the leg of his table and sat in his chair. He yawned and crossed his arms in front of him, putting them on the desk. He nuzzled his head in his arms.

"Didn't you get enough sleep at home? Especially since you came in _late_." Shippo raised a brow with irritation.

Inuyasha lifted his hand in the air and waved him off.

Shippo sighed and shook his head. "How he manages to get into the top class, I just don't understand."

The class chuckled at their teacher's remark.

Inuyasha turned his head slightly to look over at Kikyo's table. _"Not here huh?"_ He shifted his eyes over to the window and looked up at the sky. _"Geez."_ He thought with irritation.

Shippo paused because of the knock at the door. "Come in."

The door slid open and in came a feminine looking boy with black hair in a small bun with black eyes. His facial features were so similar to that of a girl's that the whole class didn't know if he was actually a guy.

"Ah, that's right. We have another new student joining us." Shippo explained. "I'm Sakurai-sensei and you are…?"

"Jakotsutou Jakotsu." He introduced with a grin.

Man, not only was his features similar to a girl's, but his voice seemed like a girl's voice as well. Even Shippo was surprised.

"Did you want me to explain anything about myself?" Jakotsu asked with a grin.

Shippo snapped out of his surprised state and cleared his throat. "Well," he turned to the class, "do you guys have any questions for Jakotsutou-san?"

Miroku raised his hand.

"Kazaana-san."

Miroku stood up. "Are you a girl or a guy?"

"Kazaana!" Shippo yelled.

"What?" Miroku shrugged. "I'm being serious here. I just want to know."

"It's alright." Jakotsu said with a smile. "I'm a guy from head to toe. Did you want to come and check?" He said with a flirtatious smile and wink.

Miroku felt shivers go up his spine and put his hands in front of him. "No, no, it's alright." He said nervously and sat back down. He sighed and grumbled under his breath. "It would have been better if he was a female."

A girl, Sakasagami Yura, with a short black bob and red eyes raised her hand.

"Sakasagami-san."

She stood up. "What school did you transfer from?"

"Sakura High."

Murmurs went around the classroom.

Inuyasha slowly lifted his head, wondering why the class seemed a little tense. "Hey Sango." He called in a whisper.

"What?" She whispered over her shoulder.

"What's with all the murmuring?"

"Oh yeah, you weren't here at the time." Sango recalled.

"Hurry up and spit it out." He said impatiently.

Sango shot him a look. "That's the school Kikyo transferred from."

"Oh." He turned his head to look at Jakotsu.

"So you know Higurashi Kikyo-san?" Yura asked.

"You guys know Kikyo?" Jakotsu asked with a shocked expression. "Which class is she in? I'm looking for her right now."

"Higurashi-san isn't present at school today." Shippo said.

"I see, but she's in this class?"

Shippo nodded in confirmation.

Jakotsu gave a wide grin. "Great!"

"Well, anymore questions for Jakotsutou-san?" Shippo asked around, but no hands went up. "Alright then, Jakotsutou-san, there are two empty desks available. Which one would you like?"

"Is there a seat available next to Kikyo?" Jakotsu asked with a hopeful look.

Shippo checked his seating chart. "…Yes, it's right behind he desk."

"I'll take that one then." He grinned.

Shippo nodded. "The second empty one next to the window."

Jakotsu grinned and walked to his new seat.

Inuyasha eyed the new kid carefully. Curiosity of the new kid and Kikyo engulfed his mind. How did they know each other? What were they to each other? Friends? Lovers? What? In his train of thoughts, Inuyasha didn't notice Jakotsu stop in front of his desk and dangerously lean in.

"Hey." Jakotsu's voice startled him.

Finally, Inuyasha noticed Jakotsu's shadow looming over him. Inuyasha's eyes instantly narrowed into a glare. Oh how he hated his personal space being invaded. "What do you think you're doing?" His voice was dangerous.

Shippo, along with the rest of the class kept their attention on the two, interested to see what would happen next.

Jakotsu scoffed. "_You_ were the one staring at _me_."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jakotsu smirked. "I like the hard to get ones."

"What the hell?" Inuyasha scrunched up his nose.

Jakotsu leaned in closer, just inches away from Inuyasha's face. "I know I'm beautiful, but next time you keep staring, I expect a night out."

The next movement shocked the whole class. No, it wasn't Inuyasha punching Jakotsu in the face, but Jakotsu leaning forward even more and planting his lips on Inuyasha!

Inuyasha's eyes widened. He heard the class gasp and could feel their eyes widening as well. Inuyasha quickly pushed Jakotsu away from him and thoroughly wipe his lips with his sleeves. "WHAT THE HELL!" He roared with a murderous look in his eyes. Just as Inuyasha was about to jump at Jakotsu, four arms—Shippo and Miroku—quickly held Inuyasha back.

Jakotsu chuckled and walked to his seat. He sat down and turned to Inuyasha, giving him a wink.

"You bastard! I'm gonna kill you!" Inuyasha tried fighting against Miroku and Shippo, but he couldn't free himself from their hold.

"C-calm down Inuyasha!" Miroku urged.

"Inuyasha, go, just go home!" Shippo ordered as he and Miroku forcefully led him out of the classroom.

Inuyasha grunted and roughly pulled his arm away from Miroku. "Whatever."

"Here, I got your bag Inuyasha." Sango walked out the classroom door and tossed Inuyasha his bag.

"Thanks." He grumbled.

"So…how was the kiss?" Sango asked with a smirk.

Inuyasha glared. "Don't you dare speak about it."

"Oh come on, you were _only_ asking for it—staring at him like that." Miroku said with sly smile.

"Shut up!" Inuyasha yelled and stomped down the hallway.

"Glad to know you liked it!" The two yelled down the hall and burst into laughter.

Shippo chuckled. "Alright you two, back inside."

* * *

It was fifteen minutes into lunch and Kikyo still wasn't on the rooftop with Sesshomaru. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and glanced at his watch. Another minute passed, where was she? Sesshomaru grumbled, "It's not like she's anyone important."

He took a bite from his bread. Yeah, that's what he thought to himself, reminding himself that Kikyo was no one important at all. She was just a girl that he comforted yesterday. Nothing more.

The time in the piano room was nothing either. Just a time to enjoy music. Yup, that was all. She was just some new kid and underclassman that liked to get under his skin as well as steal his spot at lunch.

In fact, he should be ecstatic that she wasn't around to piss him off. Yeah, so why was he feeling a little…bored? Sesshomaru looked at the bread in his hands. "There must be something in this bread."

* * *

Kikyo walked down the streets of Tokyo, moving along the crowd as she made her way tot the hospital. That horrific dream gave her the urge to go see him as soon as possible, well after her nap and meal of course.

Little did she know that a certain classmate spotted her on the street and out of curiosity, he decided to follow her. My, oh my, does Kikyo have a little stalker.

Inuyasha was on his way home when he saw Kikyo walking down the street. He smirked to himself. _"What a ditcher."_ Curiosity got the best of him as he followed her down the street. Besides, what else did he have to do?

He noticed her turning the corner and quickened his pace a little, so that he wouldn't lose her. Just as he turned the corner, he was met face-to-face—just mere inches away—to Kikyo.

"Whoa!" He yelped. "Geez," he recomposed himself, "can you _try_ not to be such a creep?"

Kikyo raised a brow and then rolled her eyes as she began to walk away.

"Hey, wait. Let's uh…have a chat."

Kikyo paused and turned to him with a suspicious look.

"What's that look for?"

Kikyo raised an unbelievable brow and crossed her arms.

Inuyasha sighed. "I want to talk about yesterday."

"…"

"So?"

"…"

Inuyasha was slowly losing his patience. "Can you give me an answer?" He asked with a low growl in his voice.

"…"

"HEY—!"

"Five minutes." Kikyo said and walked away.

"What?" Inuyasha was still processing the words she told him. Scratch that, he was still processing the TWO words she told him. "Hey, wait!" He shouted as he turned the corner and sped up his pace to catch up to her. "Hey, I thought we were gonna talk."

Kikyo just kept walking down the street.

"Hey! Can you—"

Kikyo stopped in front of a small café and opened the door. The small bell chime from the door cut off Inuyasha's sentence.

"Welcome to Hakurei!" The manager of the café said with enthusiasm.

Kikyo nodded and took a seat at a table near the window. Inuyasha followed.

"Hello, can I get you guys anything?" A young waitress said with a small smile.

"No thank you." Kikyo and Inuyasha said simultaneously.

"Alright then. If you do need anything, just call me over." She grinned and left.

Kikyo turned her attention to Inuyasha, silently waiting as she crossed her arms.

"So about yesterday…I'm sorry. For uh…calling you a murderer…and stuff." He looked away. His pride was being hurt, so of course he was embarrassed.

Kikyo scoffed and rolled her eyes. Boy was that a sorry ass apology. Honestly, a five year old could have thought of a better one.

"Hey, what was that for?" Inuyasha shot her a look.

She simply rolled her eyes again.

"I apologized!" He defended.

Kikyo shook her head and stood from her chair.

"Hey, you can't seriously still be mad. I apologized already." Now, he was getting annoyed.

Kikyo rolled her eyes probably the fifth time that day and headed to the door.

"Hey!" Inuyasha called out to her.

Kikyo stopped as she put a hand on the door. She turned her head to Inuyasha. "First of all, that was the worst apology I've ever heard. Second, I frankly don't care about your apology anymore. And third, I don't care about your opinion of me either. So good day." The bell chimes rang again as she left.

Inuyasha crossed his arms and grumbled. "Then I bet that you don't care that I think YOU'RE THE BIGGEST BITCH EVER!" He yelled in frustration.

"…" The café went silent as everyone stared at him in fear and shock.

"WHAT!" He yelled angrily as the people in the café quickly turned away from him, back to minding their own business. "Waitress!" He called.

"Y-yes, sir?" Her happy-go-lucky attitude was replaced with fear.

"Get me some coffee and a cheesecake." He ordered. "And hurry." He said with annoyance.

"Yes sir." She said quickly and ran back to the kitchen to place his order.

"Don't care about _my_ opinion? The nerve!" He banged a fist on the table. "Stupid transfer kid." He grumbled.

* * *

Since Kikyo and the silver haired cutie wasn't at school, Jakotsu decided to play hooky. Yes, on his first day of school. At lunch, he was bored, so he grabbed his bag and hopped the fence. Not like it was anything new to him.

He walked away from school with his hands behind his head. "Man, there's nothing to do. How boring." He whined with a yawn.

"Oh!" A thought came to his mind. He dug into his pocket and took out his cell phone. "Let's see…Kikyo…there you are!" He grinned and pressed the call button.

After a few rings, Kikyo's voice came through. _"Hello?"_

"Kikyo!" Jakotsu said with a grin.

"_Jakotsu. Did you need something?"_

"That's what you say to me when we haven't talked in almost forever? No, 'how are you?' Or, 'what have you been up to?" He replied with a hurt tone.

He heard a sigh through the receiver. _"How are you?"_

"I'm good! Actually, I have something to tell you. Where are right now?"

"_You're in Tokyo?"_ He chuckled at her surprised tone.

"You can say that. So where are you?"

"_I'm near Bankotsu's hospital. It's pretty close to the station."_

"Alright, I'll see you there. So stay there." He said merrily. "Bye!"

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

**

* * *

**

It was thirty minutes since her phone call with Jakotsu and she sat next to Bankotsu's bed waiting for him.

"Knock, knock." Jakotsu said as he opened the door. "Hey Kikyo." He grinned and walked over to her, giving her a hug.

"Jakotsu." She greeted with a small smile and returned the hug. "You're…wearing my school uniform." She said with a little surprise.

He looked down at his uniform. "Yep! I'm transferred over." He grinned.

"Really?" She said with an interested smile. "Why?"

"I wanted to see you." He slung an arm around her shoulder. "Felt like seeing one of my good friends." He looked over at Bankotsu. "And I haven't seen aniki in a while. The gang didn't have enough money to all move here, so it's only me. They said that they'll come and visit soon though."

"I see. Well it's good that you're here to visit." She smiled. "So where are you staying?"

"Near your house actually."

"What?" A little shock was evident on her face.

"Mhm. I'm living in the apartment complex to the left of your house."

"I see. You should come over for dinner then. Knowing you, you'll probably forget about dinner later and just go find a cute guy to harass."

Jakotsu chuckled. "You know me too well."

"So have you already found someone new at my school?"

Jakotsu smirked and grabbed a chair. "It just so happens that I did."

Kikyo gave him an interested smile. "Who?"

Jakotsu gave a dreamy sigh. "Some kid in our class. His silver hair and cute golden eyes. He's hot tempered, but boy is he fun to play with." He squealed.

"…You don't mean…Tessaiga Inuyasha, do you?" She said with disgust.

"Hm…" He pondered for a minute. "I think that's what the teacher called him. Why?"

She scrunched her nose. "I _hate_ him." She said with disgust.

"Why?" he said with an interested look.

"He called me a murderer." She grumbled and crossed her arms.

"What the hell?" He sat up straight. "What do you mean 'he called me a murderer."

"Exactly as that sentence means." She sighed. "He said I killed Kagome and my father." She cast her eyes downward.

"That cute bastard! Alright, I'm calling the gang." Jakotsu grabbed his cell phone.

"No, no, no, no. As much as I would love to see him get beat up, isn't the whole gang coming, a _little_ exaggerated?"

Jakotsu sighed and put hiss phone away. "Fine, but can I still fight him?"

"Is it for defending me? Or just to fulfill your sadistic needs?"

He paused for a moment. "Mm…both?" He said with an innocent smile.

Kikyo gave a small giggle. "I guess then."

"Sweet!" He grinned. He turned and looked over at Bankotsu's sleeping form. "So how's aniki doing?"

"They don't know. Since he's in a coma, they can't tell when he'll come out of it or if he'll come out of it at all." She said with a solemn tone.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Cheer up. You know how aniki is, he's too strong to die."

"And too vengeful to just roll over and die. Knowing him, he has to go and beat up Onigumo before he can die peacefully." She scoffed. "Always fighting." She muttered.

Jakotsu chuckled. "Yup."

"And he's always a reckless brute that's always getting into trouble. I won't be surprised if he gets into a fight and hurt right after he wakes up." She folded her arms and huffed.

Jakotsu nodded. "Yup and—"

"And his stupid pride is always getting him into trouble too. And that guy just thinks everything is a big game to him! Why can't he take things seriously for once?" She growled. "And he's always so cocky! Geez, this guy!"

Jakotsu slowly backed away. "Uh…Kikyo?" He said nervously.

"And he's really strong and everything, so how come he's in a coma!" Her chest was heaving up and down as she sprang from her chair. Her eyes began watering. "He always kept saying how he was never gonna die because he was so strong and the best fighter in the area, but look at him now." She slowly sank back into her chair and put her head in her hands.

"Kikyo…" Jakotsu wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright, it'll be okay."

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." She said with a cracked voice that she earned from her crying.

* * *

**Alright! **

**There's chapter 4 :D Hope you guys like it! :D  
**

**Sorry it took forever everyone :(**

**I've been busy with my senior year, school activities, work, and also writer's block :P**

kikyo fan**: I wrote more chapters :) well, one more chapter ^^ and noooo sorry, I can't tell the future :P**

The Blue Mask-cara**: Thanks for adding this to your fave storry and story alerts :]**

Demoinc Angel**: Thanks for adding this to your fave story :D **

Harmony101**: Haha, yeah, i like her and bankotsu too ^^ buttttt i also like inuuyasha x kikyo x] lol and i'm glad you're liking this so far :D **

kella lea**: Glad you add this to your fave story and story alert! :] **

tatoo26**: Haha yeahhh I liked it when he got slapped too :] haha glad you liked sesshomaru and kikyo's moments too :] aww, hope your personal problems are better...considerings it's been almost 3 months :| hahahha nocturnal again? lol **

StarPrincess999**: Sigh, people just need someone to blame :[ Mmm...I'm trying to write Rin in :] I just need to figure something out lol alright! I'll write the prologue once this story ends :] and thanks for adding this to your fave stories :]  
**

organic donut with sprinkles**: haha, congrats for being the first reviewer for the third chapter! :D Yup that's what i'm trying to do :] i wanted everyone to connect to Kikyo sooo she's the center :D haha that's cool, you're doing a musical themed one too :D**

KIKXSESSHY**: haha glad you loved the chappie :]**

**WELL THAT'S IT!**

**REVIEWS PLEASE :]**

**AND TELL ME IF YOU HATE IT OR LOVE IT :]**

**Thanks again**

**_-sportiegrl out~_  
**


	5. Chapter 5: Have to Admit

**Hm, I don't think I need to do a disclaimer since it was announced previously and you guys already know what's up :)**

**Well, **

**ENJOY!  
**

**Chapter 5: "Have to Admit"**

"You take forever." Jakotsu leaned against his motorcycle, waiting as Kikyo and Sota made their way down the steps of their home.

"How are you going to take Sota to school?" Obviously, the bike only fit two people.

"I'm gonna ride the bus with Kohaku." Sota answered.

"Are you sure? I can jus—"

"I'm fine Kikyo-nee-chan." He grinned. "You finally have a friend to hang out with, so go have fun."

Jakotsu laughed. "Seems like the kids is more of an adult than you are." But his laughter immediately subsided when he saw the glare she shot him.

"Alright…" she said with hesitation. "Be safe."

Sota grinned. "I'm not the one riding the bike."

"Be safe." She repeated with a stern voice.

"Of course. I'll see you later." He grinned and walked away.

Jakotsu sighed. "Time for school." He tossed her a helmet, which she caught with ease. "You do remember how to ride one right?"

She walked over to the bike. "Please, the only thing Bankotsu drove was a bike." She put the helmet on and sat on the rear end of the bike, waiting for Jakotsu.

He shrugged. "Works for me."

* * *

"You'll never guess what happened!" Three girls ran into the classroom; the first had short black hair, the second had wavy shoulder length hair, and the third had short brown hair.

"Eri, Ayumi, Yuka; what happened?" Sango questioned from her seat.

"You won't guess it!" Eri piped.

"Why don't you just tell us already?" Inuyasha questioned with annoyance. "And you're in my way." He stood behind them in the doorway.

"Wow, you're finally on time." Miroku remarked from Sango's table.

"Shut up." He retorted as he made his way to his seat.

"So what did you have to tell us?" Sango returned to the original topic.

"Higurashi Kikyo-san!" Yuka said excitedly.

"What about her?"

"She came to school with Jakotsutou Jakotsu-san!"

"On a motorcycle!" Ayumi added.

"EH?" All the students in class shouted. Murmurs quickly spread in the room.

"Ah!" Miroku quickly ran to the window. "Did they get off the bike already?"

"Yes. Why?"

He sighed and sluggishly walked back to Sango's desk. "I missed the perfect chance to see underneath that skirt. Her riding on the bike and the skirt just flapping in the wind—the perfect view." He gave another long sigh.

Sango smacked him on the head, sending a glare his way. "Pervert." She turned back to Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka. "Well, Jakotsutou-san already confirmed that they knew each other, so it shouldn't be a big deal."

"But they came together on his motorcycle!" Eri persisted.

"But I thought he was gay, that's why he kissed Inuyasha." Miroku pointed out.

"Hm…I do prefer guys." A voice confirmed from the doorway.

"Jakotsutou-san!" The three girls squeaked.

He grinned. "Jakotsu is just fine. So what's going on here?" He questioned, walking to his seat. Kikyo simply trailed behind him and sat down once she got to her seat.

"N-nothing, nothing!" Ayumi waved off.

"Ha? Why don't you just say it?" Inuyasha questioned with irritation. "They were gossiping about you two you," he pointed to Jakotsu and Kikyo, "coming to school together on your motorcycle."

"What about it?"

"W-well," Eri hesitantly began.

"Out with it already." Inuyasha growled. Man, why couldn't they just get straight to the point? But he immediately stopped once he saw the look Sango shot him.

"Don't guys usually give rides only to girls that they like?" Eri continued. "So does that mean you like Higurashi-san?"

"Of course I like her." He grinned, throwing his arms around Kikyo's shoulders and pressing his cheek next to hers. "What's not to like about her? We're best friends!"

"…" Kikyo stayed silent, remaining expressionless. Or was that small irritation that Inuyasha saw? He shrugged. Who knows?

"Oh, that's it?" Yuka questioned.

He nodded. "Why?" He small smirk crept on his lips. "Did you fall for me already? I know. I'm just too beautiful." A dramatic sigh left his lips. "This face of mine just gets everyone falling for me. I'm sorry but I only like guys." He gave another sigh. "And there goes another broken heart. Curse my char—"

"Man, no more gossip then? How boring." Ayumi grumbled, obviously ignoring Jakotsu's dramatic performance.

"Yeah." Yuka and Eri nodded in agreement. The class followed in suit and went back to what they were previously doing.

"H-hey! You can't just ignore me like that!" Jakotsu shouted. "Right Kikyo?" He turned to her for support.

But apparently she wasn't going to give him any. She already had her elbow propped onto the desk to use her hand as support in holding up her head as she stared out the window. What a great friend.

"Kikyo!" He shouted from embarrassment.

Inuyasha scoffed. "Best friend huh? Can't believe you would actually be best friends with _her._ And from the looks of it, she seems to be ignoring you as well as the rest of us."

This caught Kikyo's attention. Her brows slightly narrowed when she turned her head to the scene before her.

"Hey, look here silver-top we _are_ best friends and _what_ did you say?" He glared. Yeah, Inuyasha was his prey at the moment and he _should_ be trying to kiss ass and flirt, but _no one_ was allowed to talk shit about any of his friends—ESPECIALLY about his best friend.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "_Silver-top?"_ He questioned dangerously as he slowly stood from his seat.

"Yeah. You got bad hearing or what?"

"Listen here bastard—!"

"Inuyasha!" Shippo shouted when he walked into the room. "Not again. Picking a fight already? Class didn't even start yet! And with the second newest transfer student? Seriously?" Irritated sigh cued.

"I—" Inuyasha tried to argue.

"Just sit. No more. I don't wanna hear it. Just. Sit." Obviously, any argument he made wasn't going to make Sakurai-sensei less pissed off.

So Inuyasha as well as every other classmate quickly took their seats.

Shippo took a deep breath in and sighed. "All right class." The class bell chimed, cuing class was in session. "Let's begin."

* * *

"Ah, that was torture." Sighing, Inuyasha over his desk.

"Finally, lunch time." Miroku let out a relieved sigh. "Sango, bento?"

"Bento? For what?" She questioned, taking out her bento.

"Did you make one for me?"

"Nope. Was I supposed to?" Grabbing her chopsticks, she plopped some rice and sausage in her mouth.

Miroku knelt in front of her desk, drooling over her food. "That looks so good. Why didn't you make me one?" He whined.

"I didn't know I was supposed to. Hey, you got hands and a kitchen at home—make it yourself!"

"But it's not fun that way! Food tastes better when someone else makes it for you."

She rolled her eyes. "Lazy ass."

Jakotsu moved his desk, wedging himself between Inuyasha and Sango's desk. "I wanna join in too."

"Well who said you were invited?" Inuyasha shot at him.

"Inuyasha!" Sango warned.

He simply grumbled in return.

"We don't mind if you sit with us Jakotsu-san."

Jakotsu nodded and grinned. "Yay! It's okay Inuyasha, you'll come to love me eventually." Guess he forgot about the little fight that was about to ensue that morning.

He scoffed. "Come to love you'? What kind of bull is that? I don't swing that way."

"Oh don't be like that." Jakotsu wrapped his arms around Inuyasha's left arm. "You should learn how to be more lovey dovey!"

Sango and Miroku covered their mouths, trying to hide their fits of laughter.

While Inuyasha on the other hand was shouting curses as well as trying, but unsuccessfully prying Jakotsu off his arm.

"Ah, Kikyo." It was this that drew Jakotsu's attention away from Inuyasha, resulting in him releasing Inuyasha's arm.

Inuyasha thanked the gods. _'At least she was finally useful for something.'_

"Where you going?" Jakotsu questioned his best friend. "Are you getting lunch?"

She merely nodded in reply.

"Did you wanna join us?"

She shook her head.

"Do you _ever _talk?" Inuyasha questioned in annoyance.

A glare was her answer.

"Then I'll go with you." Jakotsu proposed, beginning to stand.

She merely shook her head.

"What? Why?" A crestfallen look was cast on his face, reminding Kikyo of an abandoned puppy.

Kikyo simply shook her head once again, insisting that she be left alone.

His lips pursed. Sighing, "alright. Be safe. Come back when the bell rings."

Nodding, she waved goodbye and walked out of class.

"If you wanted to go, why didn't you?" Miroku questioned, stealing a bite from Sango's lunch.

"Hey!" She glared.

"Sharing is caring." He grinned.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Anyways, why didn't you go? It would be better if you did." Muttering the second half under his breath.

"Because knowing Kikyo, she'll just get mad at me if I followed her." He sighed. "Besides!" He turned to Inuyasha with a grin. "If I went with her, I wouldn't be able to be lovey dovey with you!" He gushed, once again throwing at Inuyasha.

"Damn it! Get off me!" Inuyasha barked as the class once again erupted in laughter.

* * *

"You're here." A voice concluded as Kikyo walked onto the roof.

She nodded, taking a seat next to the silver-haired third year.

"You weren't here yesterday." Sesshomaru recalled.

She shook her head in agreement. She opened her bread package and quickly took a bite. Boy was she starving.

"Why?"

She paused. What to say? She _could_ just say she didn't feel like coming yesterday, but that was just prompt more questions. "Sick."

"Sick?"

She nodded, taking another bite.

"Are you feeling better now?" Exactly why was he so curious?

She nodded once again.

"That's good."

"Worried?"

"Huh?" That took him by surprise. Usually, the conversation would just end there and they would sit together in the quiet, but peaceful atmosphere. Just the way he liked it.

"You were worried." She analyzed.

"No."

"Then why were you asking?"

"You were missing, so of course I would ask. Common knowledge and manners."

"So you missed me." She concluded.

"No." He repeated with a more definite tone.

"Liar."

He shot her a look. "Drop it."

She shrugged, taking the last bite of her bread. A small smirk found its way to her lips when she saw his slightly embarrassed and annoyed look. She had to admit; it was pretty fun teasing him. She crumbled up her wrapper and glanced at her watch. "Bye." She announced, standing from her spot, heading to the door.

"See you tomorrow."

She paused and turned to him. Curiosity and amusement played in her eyes. A simply nodding gesture was her reply before leaving the rooftop.

Mini back and forth teasing or questioning was quite fun at times. Usually girls would be frolicking around him, trying to persuade him for a date or a night out. But with Kikyo, it was rather fun—in a weird, calming, and quiet way. He had to admit that he was actually looking forward to their small lunches together. But he would definitely die before admitting that. Never was he going to admit he enjoyed his time with her. Never.

* * *

"I'll be back." Inuyasha stood from his seat. He was finally free from Jakotsu's grasps.

"Where you going?" Sango questioned.

"Restroom."

"I'll go with you!" Jakotsu eagerly volunteered.

"No!" He quickly sprinted out the room, slamming the behind him. "Shit, he's driving me crazy!"

He walked down the hall to the restroom. Walking in, he headed straight to the urinal. At that moment, two third years walked in and to the urinals.

"Hey, have you seen the new transfer student?" The first guy asked his friend.

"Which one?" His friend questioned.

"The girl, duh."

"Yeah, isn't she gorgeous?"

"Seriously!" The first guy grinned. "She looks exactly like the Kagome girl, but the transfer is—"

Inuyasha flushed the urinal slammed a fist into the wall. "She's what?" Threatening the third year to continue.

"Ah, s-she's not as pretty." The guy continued. "Right?" He asked his friend.

"Y-yeah, yeah." The second guy gave a nervous chuckle.

Even though Inuyasha was a second year, he was surprisingly feared among the upperclassmen because of his strength, quick temper, and brother. Sure the two weren't close, but because they were family, Sesshomaru wouldn't stand it if his kin was given a beat down. He would lose face if that were to happen, so he has no choice but to back Inuyasha up.

Inuyasha's eyes continued to narrow. He brought his fist back to his side and dangerously walked over to the sink to wash his hands.

The two third years gulped nervously.

Inuyasha glanced at the two as he made his way to the door. "Have a good day."

The phrase and his tone sent shivers down their spines. The cold and ruthless tone, shit if he wasn't at the door and if they had washed their hands, they would've bolted out of the place in a nanosecond. But shit, he just had to be standing there.

Inuyasha simply stared them down right before exiting the restroom.

"Stupid, there's no way that transfer is better than Kagome." Inuyasha grumbled to himself as he stalked down the hall. "These people are crazy."

He paused in front of the classroom and put a hand on the door. He looked at the door and then down the hall—where the music room was waiting. His fingers inched closer to the door, but he snuck another glance down the hall. Scratching his head, he sighed. "Damn." He turned from the door and walked further down the hall.

It wasn't a far walk from the classroom to the music room. And as usual, the area around the music room was deserted. He arrived outside the door of the room and reach for the handle. Pausing, he glanced up and peeked through the window. He looked for Kikyo, so that he could finally confront her once again about the incident.

And there she was, just as he expected. There she sat, on the piano bench with her fingers placed on the black and white keys. The sunlight illuminated the room, causing a glow to emulate around her. He had to admit that she did look 'gorgeous' in that light. Guess the words he had to use would be 'she looked out of this world' or something mystical—something along those corny lines.

Just as he was about to slide open the door, Kikyo played the first note of the song.

"Once in a while

You are in my mind

I think about the days that we had

And I dream that these would all come back to me

If only you knew every moment in time

Nothing goes on in my heart

Just like your memories

How I want here to be with you

Once more."

He was stunned. He didn't know much about music, but he could tell that she was portraying her emotions through that song alone. It was a lovely song, none like he heard before. But it had a sad, bittersweet tone to it.

"Doesn't the song just make you wanna run to her and hug her?" A voice from beside him asked.

Startled, Inuyasha looked to his left only to see Jakotsu beside him looking through the window as well. _'What the hell? When did he get here?'_

"This piece; 'it's a great piece, but it's so bittersweet that you just want to run over and engulf her in a big, soothing hug because you think she's gonna cry and break down any moment.' That's what he said every time she played this piece." Jakotsu quoted.

"What are you talking about?" Inuyasha raised a brow.

"Kikyo only plays pieces that express her feelings at the moment. Perhaps…she's playing this piece because she's on the brink of breaking down." A pained expression was evident on his face.

"You are always gonna be the one

And you should know

How I wish I could have never let you go

Come into my life again

Oh, don't say no

You are always gonna be the one in my life

So true, I believe I can never find

Somebody like you

My first love

Once in awhile

You are in my dreams

I can feel the warmth of your embrace

And I pray that it will all come back to me

If only you knew every moment in time

Nothing goes on in my heart

Just like your memories

And how I want here to be with you

Once more

Yah, yah, yah."

A tear slid down her cheek.

But it wasn't something that Jakotsu or Inuyasha noticed. If Kikyo had known they were watching the whole time, she would probably be thanking the gods for them not seeing. Jakotsu would probably rush in once he saw it and the latter would most likely make fun of her.

"What do you mean, 'she's breaking down'?" Inuyasha questioned, bringing up his hand to do air quotes.

"This song was written for him when they were on the verge of breaking up. It's meant to be a bittersweet song of their love. She only sings this when she's depressed and thinking of him." Jakotsu explained.

"Who?"

"You will always be inside my heart

And you should know

How I wish I could have never let you go

Come into my life again

Please don't say no

Now and forever you are still the one

In my heart

So true, I believe I could never find

Somebody like you

My first love

Oh, oh

You are always gonna be the one

And you should know

How I wish I could have never let you go

Come into my life again

Oh, don't say no

You will always gonna be the one

So true, I believe I could never find

Now and forever."

"Let's go before she notices." Jakotsu turned away from the door, walking further down the hallway to the stairs. "Aren't you coming?"

Reluctantly, Inuyasha followed. "Go where?"

"I grabbed your bag earlier." He tossed Inuyasha his book bag, while slinging his own over his shoulder. "You want to know who right? Well I'm taking you to him." He quickly walked down the stairs. "But hurry up, we're ditching school. You're not afraid to ditch right?"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Ask me when I don't."

He grinned. "Alright then."

* * *

"Exactly where are we headed to?" Inuyasha questioned for the fifth time since they left school. He was walking for minutes and patience was not his forte.

"You'll find out soon." Jakotsu answered. Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, he took it out and checked his new message from Kikyo.

**Higurashi Kikyo: 1:46 p.m.**

_Where are you? Ditching again?_

**Jakotsutou Jakotsu: 1:46 p.m.**

_Yeah. See you tonight for dinner. _

"Who's that?" Inuyasha tried peeking at the phone.

Jakotsu flipped his phone close and shoved it in his pocket. "Don't worry, I'm not cheating on you." He replied with a sly smile.

A look of disgust appeared on Inuyasha's face. "Shut up and just tell me where we're going."

"We're already here, genius." Jakotsu announced, opening the front door of the hospital for Inuyasha to go in.

"Hospital? Sorry, I don't exactly _like _hospitals."

"Yeah, here's a random fact; _nobody_ likes hospitals. Just come inside." Jakotsu walked ahead, making Inuyasha quickly rush in before the door closed on him.

Inuyasha followed him through the lobby. He watched as Jakotsu greeted a few employees. Obviously, he's been there a few times, well enough times for the staff to know who he is. Jakotsu led him to the elevator, pressing the tenth button once they stepped inside. The ride in the elevator wasn't long, but it was definitely uncomfortable. It irked Inuyasha slightly that the usually playful and quote 'lovey dovey' man was for once quiet and serious. He thought he wouldn't see this day until hell froze over. Well sure, he was glad that the guy finally shut his trap, but it was a little eerie—like the twilight zone.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened, signaling their arrival. He followed Jakotsu once again, who led him down the hall and stopped in front of the twelfth room.

"Banryu Bankotsu." Inuyasha read aloud. "Who's he?"

"As of now? He's…" Jakotsu paused, finding the right words. "Kikyo's world."

Inuyasha's eyes widened and his jaw slightly dropped. "That mute actually has a guy?"

"What did you say?" Jakotsu questioned with a cold voice. A dangerous look held in his eyes.

Inuyasha cleared his throat and managed a fake cough. "Th-that girl. Yeah, I said 'that girl."

"Uh huh." Jakotsu turned to the door and put his hand on the knob, turning it to open.

"Jakotsu?" A feminine voice wondered from inside the room.

"Kagura?" Jakotsu questioned with shock.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be, oh I don't know, in another prefecture right now?" Kagura asked with shock.

"I transferred to Kikyo's school. What happened to you? We haven't heard from you since the incident." Jakotsu had so many questions for his friend—the one that some how fell off the face of the Earth since the incident.

"My parents are making all of us home schooled so that something like _that_ won't happen again." Kagura sighed.

"Your cell number, it's—"

"Disconnected? I know. They made me get a new number so I can't contact you guys. Horrible huh? They're that ashamed, trying to erase the past and keep things on the down low."

"Well let's exchange numbers now then."

"Sure, here, I'll type it in for you." She grabbed his phone and proceeded to add her number. "There. The only ones with my number are you and Kikyo."

"Seriously? She never told me she had your number!"

"Did you ask?" She cocked a brow.

"…No."

"Well there you go." Kagura glanced over to the right of Jakotsu, finally noticing the extra figure. "Who's your friend?"

"Ah! Sorry Inuyasha, I forgot you were there." He gave an apologetic grin. "Inuyasha, Kagura, Kagura, Inuyasha." He motioned back and forth. "Kagura, Kikyo, the guy on the bed, and I used to go to school together."

She nodded. "Those were the good days."

"Yeah...before—"

"The incident?" Inuyasha cut in.

"How did you—?" Kagura asked with wide eyes.

"Please, you guys only said it for like the third time within five minutes. Only someone truly stupid wouldn't be able to catch on. So what's this incident?" He asked with irritation. "And how is this all related to Kikyo?"

"I'll take my leave." Kagura stood from the chair besides Bankotsu's bed. "Call me to catch up alright?"

Jakotsu nodded. "Of course."

"Bye."

"Bye." He turned to Inuyasha once Kagura shut the door. "Grab a chair. It's gonna be a long story." He walked over to Bankotsu's bed and took a seat in what used to be Kagura's chair. While Inuyasha grabbed a chair that was stationed near the table, pulling it across the room to sit near Jakotsu.

"So?"

Jakotsu crossed his arms; a serious look claimed his features. "Well first of all, why did you call Kikyo a murderer?"

Slightly taken aback, Inuyasha retorted. "I thought we were going to talk about the incident?"

"We will, but first answer my question. Why do you hate her so much?"

"Look, I apologized but little Miss I'm too good for the world, was the one that declined the apology so I took it back." He huffed, sending a glare at Jakotsu. "And you know what? Thinking back, Kagome really wouldn't be dead now if it wasn't for that murderer. It's _her_ fault she was on the plane and it's _her _fault Kagome's dead."

Surprisingly calm, Jakotsu continued on. "That doesn't explain anything. Did you say it because you think she was the reason behind Kagome's death? Are you mad that Kikyo looks like Kagome?"

"Shut up." He growled back.

"Because they look so much alike that you can't stand it? That you can't even—"

"Shut up!" Inuyasha barked. "What do you know?"

"_I_ know that Kikyo and Kagome—"

"Who are _you_ to be calling _my_ girlfriend by her first name? Huh?"

"Me? I, myself, was actually a friend of hers when she came to visit. She actually told me a lot of stories about you."

"I don't want to hear it." His hands were balled into fists and his teeth were clenched.

"Whether you were a total ass to her or not, she still loved you."

"I _said_, 'shut up."

Jakotsu continued. "And Kikyo didn't kill her. She cared for Kagome just as much as you did."

"Shut up!" Inuyasha rushed forward and grabbed him by the collar.

Jakotsu's face-hardened and his eyes narrowed. "Kagome was Kikyo's best friend and—"

"Don't you _dare_ relate Kagome to that-that murderer!"

"Murderer?" A soft voice questioned from the doorway.

"Kikyo…" Jakotsu was at a loss for words. "What are you doing here? Did you ditch?"

Inuyasha froze. Caught red-handed. What does he do now? He released his grip from Jakotsu's uniform and turned to the porcelain-skinned pianist. "Yeah, that's right. Murderer."

Ignoring Jakotsu, her eyes darted back and forth between Inuyasha, Jakotsu, and Bankotsu.

_"Murderer. A good for nothing murderer."_

The phrase once again haunted her mind. She dropped her bag to the ground as her hands slowly clenched into small fists.

Finally remembering the reason for his pissy mood, the flame of anger once again burned inside him. "You're a murderer. 'A good for nothing murderer."

That phrase did it. Imagine a bear springing into action once provoked. That's exactly what Kikyo did once that phrase was said to her.

Her calmness snapped.

A murderer, that's all they ever called her now and it was the last straw.

A loud slap filled the room.

A red tinge was imbedded in Inuyasha's left cheek.

Jakotsu's shocked expression was of him with his jaw dropped and eyes widened. Only once had he seen Kikyo so furious and to witness it a second time? He would rather piss himself.

Kikyo huffed; angry tears filled her eyes. Frustration, anger, pain; these were the emotions swarming her body.

"What do _you _know?" She spat at him. "A murderer is all I'm called. I murdered my father and cousin. That's what everyone says."

"Kikyo…" Jakotsu managed to mutter under his breath.

She clenched her fists again. "_You_ lost your girlfriend. _I _lost my father and cousin and I'm in the process of losing my boyfriend." Her glare hardened as she inched closer to him. "So don't talk as if you're the only one that lost someone." She jabbed her index finger to his chest. "Don't speak as if you're the only one in despair. As if you're the only person in the world that matters. Selfish. That's all you are. Only caring about yourself and your own emotions. Were _you _the only one at the funeral? Were _you_ the only one crying? Huh! So stop talking as if you're the only one in pain!"

The tears finally fell and ran down her cheeks.

Inuyasha was speechless. All he could do was watch. He didn't know what to say or do. Selfish? Really?

She huffed from the anger. "Now get out. Both of you."

"Kikyo—" Jakotsu started.

"I said NOW!" She barked at them from the doorway.

Quickly, the two rushed out the room and down the hall. A slam was heard, indicating that Kikyo most likely slammed that door shut.

"Shit." Jakotsu cursed. "You just had to pick a fight."

Inuyasha looked away and just walked on.

"You know," he grabbed Inuyasha's arm, forcing him to turn around. "Normally I would be all over you, but Kikyo—"

"Is your best friend." Inuyasha finished for him. "Yeah, I heard it already."

"And my other best friend, the one laying in the coma, he wants me to look out for her. So right now, she's my number one priority." Jakotsu's eyes narrowed.

"What? You gonna beat me up?" He scoffed in reply.

"Normally, yes. And hey, I would totally enjoy it because in a way, I'm a sadist."

Inuyasha jerked back and scrunched his face in disgust.

"But you know what? What you did was really retarded and a dumbass move. So before you screw your life up even more, I'll tell you the story of what goes on in Kikyo's life."

"Keh." He scoffed. "Like I care about her life story."

"Yeah, well. I don't really care what you have to say. But you're gonna listen. So let's go." Jakotsu held onto Inuyasha's arm, dragging him to the elevator and the nearest café.

* * *

"Sorry, you had to be there for the scene Bankotsu." Kikyo said softly. She grabbed his hand and tightly held onto it.

Warm hands, but a lifeless body.

He was there, but at the same time he wasn't.

His body was there, but his soul seemed to be wandering around doing who knows what.

"That soul of yours better not be spying on some girl undressing." She muttered dangerously.

His jet-black hair was sprawled around him as usual. For once, why couldn't those damn nurses just braid his hair? It's not like braiding his hair would give them a disease.

Kikyo sighed. "Sorry, I don't have the energy to braid it or play a song today. I haven't had much energy since a few days ago. So I'm just gonna play 'First Love' through my phone."

Taking out her phone, she looked for the song she composed and played it for her beloved.

She brought her hands to her face and sighed once again. "Things…they've just been so hard lately. Nightmares left and right. All about you, Otou-san, and Kagome. I can't take it anymore."

She put her hands back down, clenching onto Bankotsu's larger hands as if they were the last connection between her and him.

"Hurry and come back. I really need you. Wake up already…please." Her voice died into whispers, begging for him to awaken. Wishing that hopefully, her desperate pleas would bring him back. "I love you."

_

* * *

Her ebony hair slightly fluttered in the wind. Because the sunlight was so damn bright, I couldn't see her beautiful face. But I knew it was a small smile that played on her lips—a rare smile that was meant only for me._

_We were sitting under a rather large tree. Well, she was sitting and I was lying down with my head on her lap. Who knew that a lap pillow was so comfortable? I should have her do this for me more often._ _Loose green grass blew away in the soft breeze. It was a good day: sunny, no clouds, and a light breeze. Simply put—perfect._

_It would be a dream come true if we could stop time in this very moment. I closed my eyes, enjoying the moment._

"_Hurry up and come back."_

_Come back? What do you mean 'come back'? From where?_

_A melody began playing around us. _

_Hey, are you playing that melody? It's 'First Love' right? Isn't it the bittersweet song that you play when you're sad about _us_? Is something wrong? What is it?_

"_I really need you."_

_A chuckle escaped from my lips. Really? I never would have thought you would ever admit that. Wait, you mean physically right?_

_I could feel the smirk find its way to my face._

_Hello? Are you gonna answer me at all?_

"_Wake up already…please." _

_What's wrong? Why? You don't like it here? Wake up? But taking a nap here would be perfect—the breeze, the sun, that atmosphere, you…why would you want me to awake from it?_

_Don't you want to freeze this moment and live in it forever with me?_

"_I love you."_

_Ha-ha, silly, silly Kikyo._

_I love you too._

_I'll love you until the end of the universe. _

_The music stopped._

_Kikyo?_

_Opening my eyes, I saw everything but Kikyo. She was the only thing missing from the picture. What the hell? Where could she be?_

_Kikyo! I stood and called for her, looking left and right, but there was no response.  
_

_Damn it, Kikyo, answer! _

_I walked around the place, but still no sign of her. _

_Kikyo!_

_Where are you?_

_Clouds began to gather. No, let me rephrase that, rain clouds began to gather. In an instant, the droplets of rain began to pour down on me and our little safe haven. The rain engulfed me and for some strange reason, the raindrops were rather salty. As if they were tears._

_Are they raindrops or tears? _

_Kikyo, are they yours? _

_

* * *

_**Alright! Chapter 5! :)**

**Geebus...I don't even know what I wrote. Note that I was writing this while I was running on no sleep. So I hope it was good TT-TT**

**Tell me your honest opinion!  
**

**If you guys don't like it, I'll rewrite it :|  
**

**For all those that didn't know, **Our Own Fairytale** is updated :) well, specifically, chapter 14 is up :D**

**Now, onto reviews!**

raralandia**: Haha, updated right after you sent me a reivew. Magic. and thanks for the add! :)**

canadians princess**: Thanks for the add! :)**

Organic Donut with SPRINKLES**: Yes bloody dream. I would imagine that's what people dream of when they're truamatized by a death or two and watching their loved one almost die. Who know? I haven't experienced it yet, but that's my guess :O And this is a rather "depressing" story at times, so I assumed it would fit :) Hee hee, that was my intention for his introdution. Since he is an oddball and unique character, might as well give him an oddball and unique intro right?**

tatoo26**: Oooooh your brothers were reading too? Cool :) Hope they liked it! Hee hee ^-^ Jakotsu, isn't he just adorable? lol Hm...I haven't decided if it's a gang or brotherhood yet :O I'm picturing a kind of gang type thing though. Since like he has the tough image. Because the gang that they have could also be a brotherhood too I guess. Kinda like in the show? Haha, I know...I'm kinda iffy now on who to pair with who :O Sorry it took foreverrr. I just didn't know what to write :/ Hopefully this came out good! **

Gothgirl1094**: Thanks for the add! :)**

starprincess999**: Hee hee, thank you :)**

**And I want to credit **Terra** for inspring me to use the song **'First Love'** by** Utada Hikaru**! :)**

**Well once again, hope you guys liked it!**

**And sorry for the long wait!**

**Check out my other stories :)**

**Thank you guys again! **

**Hopefully I get more fans :)**

**That'll be like amazing.**

**Okay, bye!**

**_-sportiegrl out~_  
**


	6. Chapter 6: Stand by Me

**Disclaimer not needed.**

**ENJOY!  
**

**

* * *

Chapter 6: Stand by Me**

Inuyasha lied on his bed, his arms were crossed and behind his head. He stared at the ceiling as the cold wind blew through the slightly opened window. Ignoring the tiny arm hairs standing from the cold, he thought back to the newly information given to him by Jakotsu.

"_Kikyo already has enough guilt from her dad and Kagome's death."_

_Inuyasha scoffed. "She deserves it. If it wasn't for her then—"_

"_Then they wouldn't have been on the plane." Jakotsu finished for him. "Yeah, that's what everyone tells her. But you know what? It wasn't her fault."_

_He scoffed once again. "Yeah, and I'm the President of the United States."_

"_No, that would be Mr. Barack Obama." _

"_Smartass." Inuyasha muttered under his breath._

_Jakotsu shot him a glare. "Anyways, it's not like she malfunctioned the plane or anything since the fault was from the plane malfunction."_

"_Yeah, whatever." He crossed his arms._

"_She already gets a lot of the blame from her family."_

"_She deserves it." Inuyasha shrugged without a care. _

"_Ever since the accident she has been called a murderer by all her family members except by Kagome's family." _

"…_So?" Inuyasha looked away, okay so maybe a little guilt was getting to him. _

"_Everyone avoided her like a plague; her family members and classmates. She doesn't need a repeat of the past."_

"…" _The guilt weighed heavier on his shoulders._

_Jakotsu sighed. "She cared about them too. Honestly, they were the few people left in her life that she trusted—relied on. If it weren't for Bankotsu, then…" He ran a hand through his hair. "Then I don't know what would have happened to her."_

_This peeked Inuyasha's curiosity. "What do you mean?"_

"…" _Jakotsu pursed his lips before continuing. "After their deaths; Kikyo barely ate, slept, or moved. She was just dead inside. She was just an empty shell."_

"_You mean, she wasn't always a mute and anti-social bi—" He stopped midway when he saw Jakotsu's warning glare. "Bi-bird watcher?"_

_Jakotsu raised a brow in amusement. Man, did this guy suck at thinking on his feet. "Well, from the time I met Kikyo, she was pretty anti-social and it took her a while to open up, but since the incident," he paused to find the right terms. "She practically became a living doll."_

"_Geez." Inuyasha said with surprise._

"_Yeah." Jakotsu nodded._

"_So this Bankotsu guy…"_

_Jakotsu leaned back in his chair. "You're curious about him too?"_

_Inuyasha folded his arms and looked away. "Keh, as if."_

_Jakotsu smirked. "Uh huh. Alright then, I won't tell you about it."_

_Inuyasha whipped his head back to Jakotsu. "Hey, the deal was for you to tell me about him too! Why I he Kikyo's '_world'_?" He questioned with disgust._

_Jakotsu smirked. "Don't tell me, you're actually _interested_ in Kikyo?" He threw his head back in laughter. "You're a tsudere aren't you?"_

"_No!" Inuyasha shot him a look. "Don't be stupid!"_

_Jakotsu's laughter slowly subsided. "Wow. Well, heads up, you're not doing so well so far with Kikyo. You're basically on her kill list." He smirked. "But if it makes you feel better, you're number one on my love list." He threw Inuyasha a wink._

_Inuyasha scrunched his nose in disgust. "Never in your life."_

_Jakotsu shrugged and gave him a sly smile. "You'll come around eventually."_

_He rolled his eyes in response. "Doubt it."_

"_Well, a little warning," Jakotsu paused, watched as Inuyasha shifted his eyes over to him. Yup, he was interested in her whether he wanted to admit it or not. _

"_What?"_

"_No matter how charming and alluring Kikyo is," Jakotsu paused. The curves of his teasing smile curved back down into a straight line. His laughing eyes narrowed in a serious manner. "Don't fall for her." _

_Inuyasha was slightly taken aback, but he quickly recomposed himself. He scoffed, "I won't," he replied definitely. "Besides," he hesitantly replied in a hopefully coy manner, "why shouldn't I?"_

"_It's obvious, you two will _never_ happen." _

_Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "Why not?" A little irritation was evident in his voice. _

_Jakotsu smirked in amusement. "What's with all these questions? I thought you didn't like her."_

_Inuyasha paused. "I don't." He replied with annoyance. "I don't know why you keep thinking that."_

_Jakotsu chuckled and shook his head. "I warned you." He said in a singsong voice._

"What an idiot." Inuyasha said to himself. He turned over to his side; his gaze was now on the picture framed on his desk. In the picture was a picture of Kagome grinning from ear-to-ear with a peace or 'V' sign leaning against Inuyasha who in return was throwing the camera an annoyed look. Inuyasha fixed his gaze on the grinning girl. "I _definitely_ won't fall for her."

* * *

"You're leaving already, Kikyo-chan?" An elderly man asked as he saw Kikyo leave Bankotsu's room.

Kikyo turned her head to the man, taking notice of him as she closed the door behind her. "Hakushin-sensei." She gave a deep bow. "Yes, there are other things that I must attend to."

Hakushin-sensei was an elderly man as well as a renowned doctor—the best in Japan. This bald man went through medical school, spent time as a monk to study other methods of healing and medicine, and he's now the head doctor at the hospital. He gave a light-hearted chuckle he stepped closer to her, placing a hand softly on her head. "After being your family doctor since before you were born, I _still_ don't understand what goes on in your mind. But don't over work yourself alright?"

She gave a small nod.

"Actually Kikyo, there's a matter I need to talk to you about."

"Is there a problem?" A slender brow raised above her left eye.

He paused for a moment before replying. "Let's talk in my office."

* * *

Beethoven's _Fur Elise_ was once again being played throughout Tama Piano School. A ten-year-old girl with brown hair curiously walked to the door of the practice room. Her lips parted and brown eyes looked at the door in wonder. She tried her best to tiptoe high enough to be able to peek through the window.

"Rin, what are you doing? I thought I told you to wait for me in my office." Midoriko questioned with a smile.

The girl looked up at her with innocent eyes. "I heard a really pretty song so I wanted to go see who was playing it."

Midoriko chuckled. "Shall we go inside then?"

Rin nodded excitedly. "Yes!" She answered with a wide grin.

"Alright then, but we'll have to be _really_ quiet alright?"

Rin grinned and vigorously nodded her head in understanding as well as excitement. Midoriko quietly opened the door to the practice room, revealing Kikyo sitting on the piano bench—closing her eyes and playing _Fur Elise_. Midoriko put a finger on her lips and signaled for Rin to silently follow her into the room. The two watched from the side until Kikyo finally finished the last measure of the piece.

"Wow!" Rin squealed, running excitedly to Kikyo's side. "That was great!"

Kikyo's eyes flung open—surprised by the voice. She slowly turned her head to the girl with the cheerful and gleaming eyes. "…Thank you." She said with a curt bow.

"That's Rin." Midoriko pointed to the girl. "Rin, the girl playing the piano is an old student of mine—Higurashi Kikyo." She introduced the two.

"Nice to meet you!" Rin grinned, inching closer and closer to Kikyo. "You're playing is so cool. How old are you? You're really pretty. Can you play another song for me? Your hair is so long! What was that song called? Could you—"

"Alright Rin, calm down now." Midoriko placed a hand on Rin's shoulder. "Kikyo here isn't much of a talker."

"Sorry." She shifted her eyes downward.

"…It's fine." A small smile crept to her lips. "It's a pleasure meeting you Rin-chan."

Rin's eyes glowed while a wide grin cheerfully occupied her features. "Yeah!"

"How old are you?"

"Ten!" She held up all ten fingers excitedly.

Kikyo gave a small chuckle as a polite smile graced her lips.

Midoriko raised a suspicious brow; something was off, but what? "Rin, how about you go observe the other students? I need to talk to Kikyo for a bit." She suggested with a smile.

"Hm…" Rin sounded as she pouted her lips. "Fine."

"And please don't bother the students while you observe them."

"Hai~" She replied in a singsong voice as she closed the door behind her after exiting the room.

"How did you meet Rin-chan?" Kikyo questioned.

"I'm thinking of adopting her. Cute huh?" She grinned.

Kikyo nodded. "You never thought of adopting me."

Midoriko paused in surprise, but eventually threw her head back in laughter.

Kikyo looked away in irritation.

Midoriko's laughter slowly subsided as she pinched Kikyo's cheeks. "Aw, is my wittle Kikyo-chan jealous?" She teased with cooing sounds.

She swatted Midoriko-sensei's hand away and rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Finally getting the fits of laughter out of her system, Midoriko eyed Kikyo seriously. "So what's wrong?"

Kikyo stayed silent.

"Well? Are you gonna tell me or not?" Midoriko crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.

Kikyo turned back to the piano and traced her fingers over the keys. "What do you mean?"

"Well for starters, your mood seems more depressed than usual which causes you to try and push yourself to be a slightly happier person, which you aren't. Second, you're actually talking to a stranger. And third, you _missed_ some keys while playing _Fur Elise_." Midoriko listed with a look that basically said 'you can't fool me, I know everything.'

Kikyo sighed. "Fine." She grumbled, "I'll tell you."

Midoriko nodded and grabbed a chair. "I'm listening."

"It seems that the money from the trial that we received has already been used up on the hospital bills."

"That means that without the money, Bankotsu is going to get cut off from his life line." Midoriko's eyes slowly widened in realization. "What is Hakushin-sensei gonna do? Is he really gonna pull Bankotsu off the life line?"

Kikyo shook her head. "Hakushin-sensei isn't the type to do that. You know that. He'll help out any patient that needs his help."

Midoriko leaned back in her chair. "Yeah, you're right. There's been more than enough times where he actually donated money to random families so they can pay for their medical bills. That guy really is one of a kind."

Kikyo nodded in agreement.

"So then what's going to happen?"

"Hakushin-sensei helped out with the bills for this month, but I can't keep relying on him. My leftover money from winning competitions was just enough to secure next month's medical bills." She sighed, covering the keys and propping her elbows on top to hold her head in frustration. "I'm lucky I got a scholarship for school."

"What are you going to do?"

She shrugged. "Don't know. Get a job?"

"Work here."

Kikyo paused. "What?" She questioned as she slowly turned her head to look at her music instructor.

"Yeah, I know that's something shocking coming from me. Especially since I would normally say something along the lines of, 'life's tough. Get a helmet." Midoriko shrugged. "But, just this once, I'll be nice. So you want the job or not?"

"Depends." Kikyo said hesitantly. "What would I be doing?"

"Piano lessons. We're short on instructors since one of my instructors quit." She explained. "You know how much we charge—fifty dollars an hour. You get half of that every hour."

"Twenty-five an hour." Kikyo concluded.

Midoriko nodded. "You're more than qualified; winning first place in national and worldwide competitions as well as learning piano for practically your whole life. You know more about the piano than all my instructors here. So how 'bout it?"

She pondered on the thought for a moment. The pay was good, it was something she loved to do, and it was something she was amazing at. Well, she was smart and could tutor as well, but the pay probably won't be as high. Besides, twenty-five an hour and possible working around five hours a day every month, that'll be great way to pay for the medical fees. Heck, why not? She nodded, "I'll take it."

"Alright." Midoriko said with an elegant smile. "Start first thing tomorrow after school. I'll assign some students to you. Oh, and this job requires communicating—talking—with the students."

Kikyo nodded in understanding.

Midoriko paused, her brows furrowed slightly. "That reminds me, shouldn't you be in school? What are you doing here?" Anger slowly rose in her voice. "You're a student. You shouldn't be skipping school!" Her eyes narrowed and brows furrowed deeper. "The first time, I let you off. But I _warned_ you not to do it a second time!"

"…Sensei, today's a Sunday." Kikyo replied in a soft tone.

Midoriko's mouth hung as she blinked her eyes, processing the information. She quickly regained her elegant and superior composure, clearing her throat in the process. "Is that so. Well alright, enjoy your Sunday." She quickly turned away in embarrassment. She strolled out of the room holding her head high with the little collectiveness she had left.

* * *

"Higurashi-san, I hope you don't mind, but you're on after school duty today." Eri said as she handed Kikyo the check off book. "Your partner today is Sango-chan." She informed with a polite smile.

Kikyo simply replied with an understanding nod.

"Well, see you tomorrow." Eri smiled, waving as she grabbed her bag to leave with her friends for the day.

Jakotsu watched their classmates rush out of the room before strolling over to her with his bag in hand. "Want me to wait for you?"

She shook her head. "Go visit him for me. I'll take the bus home."

"You sure?"

She gave a simple nod as she opened the check off book to see what her duties were for the day.

"Alright, bye. Call me when you get home alright?"

She nodded once again, but kept her attention on the book.

"So, what's the schedule for today?" Sango asked with a grin.

"Ne Sango, can't you just skip duties today? Let's hang out, the three of us." Inuyasha referred to Miroku, Sango, and himself. "The girl probably prefers working by herself anyways." He sneered.

Sango whipped her face at him, threatening him with a glare. "Don't pay attention to him Higurashi-san, Inuyasha's just a jerk."

Kikyo looked up from the book and glanced between the three friends. "It's alright." She turned her full attention to Sango, giving her an uncaring look. "You can leave."

Slightly taken aback and slightly offended, Sango furrowed her brows in confusion. "What?"

While Miroku and Inuyasha on the other hand were just shocked at the fact that Kikyo actually spoke.

"I don't need your help cleaning up. So you can leave. Don't worry, I'll check your name in for helping out."

Sango's jaw dropped, but she quickly pursed her lips as he brows narrowed in anger. "Fine then." She said with irritation. "Let's go guys." She huffed, storming out of the room. The two guys exchanged shocked expressions and quickly followed their friend to the hallway.

"The nerve of her!" Sango growled. "_I_ was polite and friendly and she _dares_ to treat me as an insignificant and helpless person! _Me_! Of all people!"

"Maybe, she meant it in a nice way." Miroku defended.

Sango stopped in her tracks and whipped her head around. "_Oh no_ you don't. You did not just defend her."

He held his hands up defensively. "I'm just saying."

"Just leave it alone." Inuyasha strolled past the two. "She's not even worth your breath."

"That's pretty harsh Inuyasha. I don't see why you hate her so much." Miroku furrowed his brows.

"_I _can see why." Sango rolled her eyes as she stormed alongside Inuyasha.

* * *

Kikyo sat in her chair completing the check off book for the day. After an hour of cleaning, she finally got all the chores completed. She dropped her pencil on the table once she finished and stretched her arms. Boy were her arms sore from cleaning, it was probably the most exercise in her life.

She glanced back at the check off book, looking at Sango's name. As promised, she checked the girl in for after school duties. Her mind wandered as she thought back to when she told Sango that she could leave with her friends. Why was she so mad? Did she actually want to stay around and clean? Who in their right mind would rather clean than hang out with their friends? Strange girl indeed. Kikyo was simply thinking of the Sango girl and thought it was what she wanted. So exactly why did she get mad?

_Thud._

The sound startled Kikyo out of her thoughts, causing her to turn her head to the figure at the door. A boy with shaggy brown hair and light brown eyes, stood at the doorway in what Kikyo concluded to be shock; considering as he dropped his bag on the ground with wide eyes. Kikyo stared on as she titled her head slightly in wonder. This movement caused him to snap out of his thoughts and quickly grab his bag.

"Sorry." He bowed in apology. "I didn't mean to spy or stare, it's just," he paused finding the right words. "You look a lot like someone I know and—" He stopped midair as he locked eyes with her. He quickly cleared his throat and walked over to her. He extended out his hand as a polite smile graced his lips. "I'm Matsushimo Hojo the school president and you are?"

Kikyo glanced at his extended hand and hesitantly brought out her hand to shake his.

She gave a curt nod and drew back her hand.

"And you are?" He repeated politely, the smile was still placed on his lips.

She simply pointed to her nametag.

"Higurashi Kikyo, second year." He read aloud. "That would make you my kohai."

She nodded.

"Higurashi…you wouldn't happen to be related to Higurashi Kagome would you?" His eyes softened a little at the mention of her name.

This didn't go unnoticed by her. 'Another one of her friends perhaps?' He probably liked her as well.' She concluded and nodded in response to his question.

A bittersweet smile replaced his polite one. "I see. That explains it then." Hojo glanced at his watch. "Ah, shoot! I gotta go." He rushed to the door and paused, turned to look her. "Maybe I'll see you around tomorrow. Bye." He grinned, waved, and ran off.

Kikyo simply stared at him. What a strange guy.

* * *

"_When the night has come, and the land is dark_

_And the moon is the only light we will see_

_No, I won't be afraid, oh, I won't be afraid_

_Just as long as you stand, stand by me_

_So darlin', darlin' stand by me_

_Oh stand by me_

_Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me_

_If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall_

_Or the mountain should crumble to the sea_

_I won't cry, I won't cry, no, I won't shed a tear_

_Just as long as you stand, stand by me_

_And darlin', darlin' stand by me_

_Oh stand by me_

_Whoa stand now, stand by me, stand by me"_

_Bankotsu whistled the solo break as he walked around the grassland._

"_And darlin', darlin' stand by me_

_Oh stand by me_

_Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me_

_Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me_

_Oh stand by me_

_Whoa stand now, oh stand, stand by me…_

_Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me_

_Oh stand by me_

_Whoa stand now, oh stand, stand by me…"_

_His whistling faded as the song came to an end. Exactly how has he been walking for? It seemed like hours, days, weeks—you get the point._

_He wanted to stop, but he needed to find…find…what was it again?_

_He stopped in his tracks. What the hell was it? The reason that he kept walking, why was he even walking again? Why? The question flooded his mind._

_Why couldn't he remember it?_

_It was really important to him, but that was all he knew._

_It was something, no _someone_ he needed beside him. _

"_So darlin', darlin' stand by me_

_Oh stand by me_

_Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me…"_

_He softly sang to himself. He closed his eyes as he repeated those lines over and over again. Slowly, but surely, images of a raven-haired, onyx-eyed pianist flooded his mind._

_But now, the question was, who was she?_

* * *

"Kikyo, meet your first student—Hiraikotsu Kohaku. He's been having lessons here for a few months now. Also, he'll be having lessons every Monday at four." Midoriko explained. "Kohaku, this is your sensei, Higurashi Kikyo."

Kohaku nodded and offered her a polite smile. "Please take care of me Higurashi-sensei."

Kikyo nodded.

"Well, I'll leave you two to your lessons." Midoriko closed the door behind her as she exited the room.

"Have a seat." Kikyo gestured to the piano bench.

He nodded, dropped his school bag next to the piano bench, and did as told. "Excuse me, Higurashi-sensei, random question, but are you Sota's cousin."

She grabbed a chair and nodded as she took a seat. "And I assume you're related to Hiraikotsu Sango-san."

He nodded as well. "My sister."

"I see. Well, enough with idle talk. What have you learned so far?"

He glanced at the keys and positioned his fingers. "Fingerings, scales, songs." He listed.

Kikyo stood and place a music sheet in front of him. "Play that for me."

"_Stand by Me_ composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, recorded by Ben E. King." He read aloud.

She nodded. "Play."

Kohaku positioned his hands on the keys and did as told. His playing was okay for barely learning a few months ago, but it was simply sloppy. The rhythm wasn't right, notes were missed, timing was off, rests weren't held—he needed a lot of guidance.

"So what do you think?" He asked once he was done.

"Why are you learning the piano?"

"Excuse me?" He raised his brows in confusion.

"Why are you learning the piano?" She repeated.

He pondered for a moment. "I've always wanted to learn. I've seen artists and people play the piano on television before, it's really cool how they can make the song sounds so wonderful." He gave a cheeky and embarrassed grin.

"At least you have the right mindset."

"Huh?"

She ignored his confusion. "You want to get better I assume?"

"Yeah, I'm actually thinking 'bout becoming a pianist." He grinned.

"Then I'm going to be brutally honest."

He nodded. "If it'll help me improve. What do you think?" He asked with hopeful eyes.

"Horrible." Damn was she blunt.

"What?" He asked with a crestfallen face.

She stood and walked over to him, motioning to scoot over and took a seat. "May I borrow a pencil?"

Kohaku nodded and grabbed a pencil. "Here."

"Look at this." She circled the counts. "It's four-four." She tapped the pencil on the piano to show him the beats. "You were going too fast." She put the pencil next to the music sheet and positioned her fingers on the keys. She pressed the keys down, playing the rhythm of the song.

"That's sounds completely different than what I was playing."

"That's because the rhythm you played was wrong." She turned to him. "Have you ever heard this song before?"

"Only once when I was little." He gave a nervous grin.

"I'll play it for you then." She pressed the keys once again: catching the rhythm, not missing a beat or a note, playing in time—doing everything perfectly.

"Whoa." He said with astonishment.

"When you played, you missed some notes and you skipped some rests."

He nodded in understanding. "Can I try it again?"

Kikyo paused for a moment. "Sure." She nodded and moved back to her chair. "Whenever you're ready." Kikyo nodded along to Kohaku's playing. It was still pretty choppy, but at least he was keeping in time and playing the right rhythm. She was surprised he was a quick learner. Yeah, he was doing pretty well. 'Wait.' She thought to herself; the keys to that part were wrong, he screwed up. She listened closer to find the error and once she did, she furrowed her brows in irritation. "Stop."

Kohaku withdrew his hands and threw her a curious look. "What's wrong?"

"Play measures fifteen to twenty."

He raised a brow, but did as told.

"Wrong." She said with irritation.

"What? Why?"

She walked over to the piano and grabbed the music sheet, putting them in his hands. "Look at the measures, what did you miss?"

He looked over the music. "The rest?"

"Yes."

"Is missing a rest that big of an issue? It's just a rest, so why should if matter?"

"Just a rest?" She arched a delicate brow. "A _rest _is an essential part to a song. Notes, rests, timing, rhythm—the keys to making good music. You can't have one without the other; they come hand in hand. If you can't understand that then you won't go further in becoming a pianist."

Kohaku lowered his head with sorry eyes. "I understand."

Kikyo sighed and put a hand on her head. "I'm sorry, I lost my temper."

"…"

She took a seat in her chair. "Hiraikotsu-san, there are things that you must understand about music."

He brought his gaze up, listening attentively to her words.

"Everything written on a music sheet is there for a reason. It expresses the composer's feelings and it's our job to express them to others. If you skip a rest, it changes the rhythm—the way the piece was written."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Skipping a rest usually causes speed of tempo to change."

"Oh. So how exactly do I 'express' the composer's emotions?"

"You can start by learning about the history of the piece and meaning."

"History?"

She nodded. "This song was composed in America in the nineteen-sixties and based off of a gospel song from the nineteen-fifties. So it's a very slow, romantic song. This song basically says that as long as someone has their loved one, they can overcome anything."

"Whoa, I didn't know that."

"Play it again."

"You actually want me to play again?" He asked with surprise.

"How else can you get better?"

"True." He once again positioned his finger on the keys.

"This time, thinking about the meaning of the song. If you were in Ben E. King's position, singing your heart out to your loved one, how would you express it?"

Kohaku inhaled deeply and exhaled, relieving the tension in his shoulders. He relaxed his mind, thinking of the emotions in the song. Once he was settled, he began.

"You improved. Not that much, but a little improvement is better than nothing." She stated once he finished the piece.

"Really?" He asked with hopeful eyes.

Kikyo's confirmed his answer.

"Finally, a compliment." He grinned. "So anymore advice before I leave?" Believe it or not, it was already an hour since they started.

Kikyo nodded. "Just one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Play the music, not the instrument."

* * *

**ALRIGHT!**

**Chapter 6! :) yayyyyyy! *cue applause***

**Sorry, it's been a while.**

**Well quick heads up, NO UPDATES WILL ARRIVE IN THE MONTH OF JULY. I'll be in Paris, France for the month :) hee hee**

Terra**: YOU'RE BACK! :O loll oh tell me about it, college = stress****. grr and i'm so mad, my counselor screwed up my GPA so I'm not getting the right grant that i should be getting. Such a hassle -_- anywayyyyssss yeah Inuyasha, what a douche. lol don't worry though. he'll get better ;] i think... haha! yeah, i love Jakotsu! lol **

Taz**: UPDATED! and...it's not picking up much LOL curse the author huh? x]**

tatoo26**: thank youuu :) haha to your questions...i honestly don't know the answers x] LOL**

Monstastic**: Glad you like it! SesshomaruxKikyo? Who knows? MAYBE in the far future, because I won't be making a new story until i finish my current ones :) BUT when i do finish, bring it up again and we'll discuss, okay? :)**

Organic Donut with SPRINKLES**: Yes, she's on a motorcycle. I assume, since Bankotsu and the rest of the Band of Brothers are supposed to be a gang type group, it would make sense they have a motorcycle rather than a bicycle...right? o.o And i think as Bankotsu's girlfriend, she would have had enough experience to get used to it...eventually :) lol glad you liked Jankotsu's intro ^-^ and yayyyy you liked the ending :D**

Soul Raker**: Haha, that's...a secret! :P and thanks for the add! :)**

**HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED IT!**

**SORRY IF THERE'S ERRORS**

**WRITING THIS AT LIKE 3 AM BECAUSE I CAN'T SLEEP -_- **

**HORRIBLE HUH? YEAH, I'M NOT THE BEST ROLE MODEL...LOL**

**KK**

**THANKS AGAIN :)**

**_-sportiegrl~_  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Come Back

**ENJOY  
**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Come Back  
**

"I have after school duties today, as well as work." Kikyo's eyes lowered. "Can you visit Bankotsu for me?"

"Idiot." Jakotsu tapped her on the head, "We're 'brothers'. You don't need to tell me to visit him."

A small smile crept to her face. "Thank you."

He nodded in reply.

"Maybe, I'll be able to go today. My lesson ends at seven."

"You have right? And you'll be tired. _And_ it'll be late when you go home; dangerous. I'm sure Bankotsu would understand if you missed today."

"Then...tell him, I'll be there tomorrow." Her smile softened, as well as her eyes.

"Definitely." Jakotsu sighed and watched as the last of their classmates left the room. "I guess I better get going then." He grabbed his bag. "Have fun. Call me if you need anything." He said as he left the room.

She nodded and grabbed a rag to clean the windows. "Of course."

Hojo glanced down at the paperwork in his hands as he strolled through the corridors of the school. As president of the school, there was a never ending stack of paperwork to complete, but after hours of hard work, he was finally finished. He smiled to himself in victory as he stopped at a particular classroom, 2-A. It's been a week since he's last seen her. Higurashi-san, she was an interesting person. She looked like Kagome, but at the same time she was completely different. There were features that made them look identical, but with the slightest shift of angle, one could notice the difference between the two. Kikyo had higher cheek bones, a matured look, porcelain skin. Sure, they looked alike, but Kagome had a cutesy look to her. While Kikyo had a look of beauty.

Hojo peeked his head into the room. And there she was, busy cleaning the windows. The rays from the sunset shone through the windows, sunlight played on her skin and her ebony hair. He thought Kagome was a beautiful woman, but this woman before him seemed as if she was a mere fabric of his imagination. One possible couldn't be so beautiful. It was as if she was a goddess in disguise.

Almost immediately, he was attracted to her. It was simply her looks, but her actions as well. She gave off a strong, unapproachable aura, but she was rather kind.

"Cleaning the classroom by yourself again?"

Kikyo turned her head to the voice with a surprised look. Her eyes met Hojo's as well as the friendly smile on his face.

He took a step inside and set his papers on a nearby desk. "Last week, you were cleaning by yourself as well."

She simply watched his movements.

"Can I help?" A smile played on his lips.

She paused before answering, "It's fine."

"Finally," he grinned. "I finally got a word from you." He rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a broom. "Well, I'm helping anyways."

"It's fine."

"It's okay. I want to help."

She eyed the papers on the table near the door. "You're busy with something else. I wouldn't want to burden you."

Hojo turned to the desk. "Ah...that." He pursed his lips and shrugged. "It can wait." He turned back and smiled. "Besides, this job will be faster if there were two of us, right?"

"..." She turned around and went back to cleaning the windows. "I guess." She muttered, but it was loud enough for him to hear.

He nodded and smiled. "It seems that I wasn't wrong about you."

Kikyo stopped and whipped her head toward him, beckoning for him to continue.

"Ah," he smiled in embarrassment. "I was just thinking that Higurashi-san was a really kind person."

Her brows knitted in confusion, wondering how he came up with that idea.

"Well, from what I can tell," his cheeks reddened. "You're independent and don't like to rely of others. You like to do things by yourself, not because you don't enjoy the company of others, but because you simply don't wish to burden them."

"..." She stared with surprised eyes.

He looked around nervously. "Am I perhaps wrong?"

_"The way you say things, when you tell people you can handle things on your own, most people get offended and see it as you don't want to be associated with others or that you're arrogant. But in actuality, you just don't want to burden them, right? You're really a kind and gentle person."_

Kikyo blinked her eyes, pushing away the tiny tears that were forming. "Ah," she turned back to the window. "Everyone has their own opinions." A hidden smile graced her lips.

Hojo let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

* * *

"We're finally done." Hojo grinned and grabbed his papers.

Kikyo nodded. "Thank you."

Nodding, he replied. "Anytime." He checked the time on his phone. "Ah! I have to get going. Bye!"

Kikyo nodded and waved as he rushed out the door. She took a seat at her desk and began filling in the log book for the day.

"What a nice guy, huh?"

Her eyes stayed glued to the log book as her hand kept jotting down words. "Why are you still here?" She paused and finally looked up and made eye contact with the owner of the voice. "Tessaiga-senpai."

Sesshomaru shrugged. "No reason." He pulled out a chair and sat on the other side of her desk.

She eyed him and resumed to her task at hand.

Sesshomaru never took his eyes off her. His arms folded neatly in front of his chest as he watched her. His eyes watched as the sunlight reflected off of her skin, her chocolate brown eyes slightly lit up from the sunlight. He scanned the rest of her face; high cheekbones, nicely rounded cheeks, eyes that were slightly larger than the normal Asian type eyes, her heart-shaped face, and her pink, plump lips. Absolutely no imperfections. No blemishes or scars; nothing.

Her ebony hair greatly complimented her soft, porcelain skin. As if she was a Japanese princess that came out of a story book.

Sesshomaru thought to himself for a moment. Kikyo. She was one of the top students, especially having went to a prestigious school, she wasn't like those other girls that whined or had nonsensical chatter; something that annoyed him greatly. She was talented with the piano, refined, gave an elegant aura, sharp-tongued, mature, and didn't take crap from anyone; well at least not from him. Also, she was a beauty.

Kikyo looked up at him with a cocked brow. "Is something on my face?"

The question went in through one ear and out the other.

His father would most definitely approve of her if she was to be his. But then, why would any of this matter? Did _the_ Tessaiga Sesshomaru really want to make her his? For what reason?

His brows slightly furrowed as he tried to think of a reason.

He had it. Of course! So that those rather annoying, chit-chatty girls would leave him alone. Although he gave off an intimidating aura, there were still a brave select few that were willing to approach him. Yes, with Kikyo around, those girls would stay away. Besides, she's the only non-related woman that he could stomach the presence of.

Yes, that was his reason. That was his reason for making her his. Nothing more and probably something less.

"Is there something on my face?" Kikyo repeated. Curiosity filled her eyes, as well as irritation.

He snapped out of his thoughts, but kept his composure. Narrowing his eyes lightly, he reached his hand towards her bangs and ruffled them. "Bug."

Her eyes widened. "Is it gone?" She asked quickly. If there was something she couldn't stomach at all, next to Inuyasha, it was _bugs_.

He nodded and quickly looked away. "Gone."

She let out a relieved breath.

He let out a small unnoticed breath himself. He was impressed and relieved that she actually bought that lie.

Closing the log book and collecting her things, Kikyo sighed. "Finally, finished."

* * *

"Where are you going?" Sesshomaru asked as he walked beside Kikyo as they left school.

She checked her phone for the time. "The piano school. In twenty minutes. And yourself?"

"Hm," he pursed his lips. "No where in particular."

"Then you might as well go home."

He shrugged. "I don't feel like it."

She turned to him with a raised brow.

"What?"

"You would rather walk around town wasting time than going home?"

He paused for a moment before replying. "I don't think that walking around town with _you_ is a waste of time."

She froze in her tracks and stared at him with wide eyes.

He stopped and looked back at her. He asked nonchalantly, "What? Aren't you coming?" He checked his watch. "You have ten minutes left."

"Ah," she nodded and caught up to him. "Yeah." She snuck a small glance at him. It confused her, the things he said always confused her. His stoic expression was something she couldn't read. It slightly irked her, made her think; what could possibly going on in that brain of his?

"Sesshomaru?" A woman's voice called from behind.

"Okaa-san." Sesshomaru announced as he and Kikyo paused in step to turn and see the owner of the voice.

The woman's, almost the female version of Sesshomaru, pink-purple lips grew as she confirmed that the teenager before her was indeed her son. Her long silver hair was tied back in two pony tails as her bangs neatly framed her face. "I knew it was you!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"We're the only family with silver hair. I'm sure it's not hard to figure out it was me." He said matter of factly.

She pouted in response. "No, charm at all. So unlike your father." She folded her arms and huffed. "Ah!" She turned her attention to Kikyo. "And who might this be?" Her eyes gleamed with interest.

"A friend." He replied almost immediately.

"Oh?" A sly smile graced her lips. "I've never met any friends of yours at all, especially a _girl_."

"Okaa-san..." He warned with narrow eyes.

She waved a hand, "Geez, I'm just trying to meet your friend. Don't be so hostile. I look young, but I'm still your mother."

Sesshomaru sighed. His mother certainly was a handful.

"So what's your name?" She smiled with excitement.

"...Higurashi Kikyo." She introduced with a bow.

"I'm Tessaiga Kimi." His mother paused for a moment as something came across her mind. "Higurashi...you wouldn't happen to be related too Higurashi Kagome would you?"

Kikyo gave a hesitant nod. "Cousins."

"Ah, I see. Well anyways," another smile grew on her face. "you really are a beautiful girl, Kikyo-chan."

"Ah," a small blush crept on her face. "Thank you."

"Isn't it time for work?" Sesshomaru said as he checked his watch. "You have five minutes left."

"Ah!" Her eyes widened. "Sorry, I have to go." She gave a quick bow and ran off.

"Hm..." Sesshomaru's mother sounded as she watched Kikyo speed away.

"What?" He raised a brow.

"I like her."

"Good."

"You sure know how to pick them." She grinned.

"Of course." He said with high confidence.

She scrunched up her face in irritation. "No charm what so ever."

* * *

"Higurashi-sensei, you're late." Kohaku teased once Kikyo entered the practice room.

"..." She ignore his comment and set her bag down in the corner.

"You know sensei," Kohaku paused, waiting to see if he had her full attention. "Sensei?"

"I'm listening." She grabbed a chair and sat down next to the piano.

"Can we play a harder piece today?"

"A harder piece?" She raised a brow.

He nodded, "I've been playing _Stand by Me_ for a week already. I wanna try something else. Something on a higher level."

She folded her arms over her chest. "Have you mastered the song?"

"I think so?"

"You _think_?"

"...Yes?"

"If you truly believed that you mastered the song, then your answer shouldn't have been 'I think so' and you shouldn't have answered with a question."

"Well I-"

"Play the song. Prove to me that you mastered it."

"Y-yes sensei." He turned to the piano and position his fingers.

"You aren't using the music sheet? You have it memorized?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Hm." She gave a nod of approval. "Whenever you're ready."

Kohaku's fingers moved, the black and white keys were pressed, the piano sounded as the song was played. Kikyo nodded along to the song. The timing was good, the notes were played well, all the notes were correct, as well as the rests. It was good. No, it was great. But it was lacking something.

"So?" Kohaku asked once he ended the song. His eyes were eager with reviews. "How was it?"

"It was great Kohaku!" Clapping came from the door that was open ajar.

"Nee-san, Miroku-senpai, Inuyasha-senpai!" His mouth gaped. "What are you all doing here?"

Sango smiled as the three walked over to him. "We had nothing to do, so we decided to see how your piano lessons were coming along. Since you never played for us before."

"It really was great Kohaku." Miroku smiled.

"Good job kid." Inuyasha nodded in agreement. He looked over at Kikyo, eying her in the corner of his eyes. "Hm, so that's your teacher?" He watched as she raised a brow and sat straight up in the chair.

"Ah, yes." Kohaku nodded. "You all know each other right?"

Miroku nodded. "Yes. How are you Higurashi-san?"

Kikyo simply held her thumb up, as if saying 'good.'

"Hmp." Sango scrunched up her nose. She was still upset at what happened last week on cleaning duty.

Kohaku raised a brow at her sister's attitude, but quickly ignored it, eager for his teacher's review. "So, sensei? What do you think?"

Kikyo closed her eyes and replayed his performance in her mind. "Timing was good, notes and rests were correct, it was great. Better than last week."

Kohaku's face lit up.

"See, I told you you were great!" Sango grinned.

"But."

All eyes were on her. Watching, waiting to see what she would say next.

"It's not perfect. It was mastered as you have claimed."

"Oh." Kohaku frowned, his eyes were downcast, and his voice was weak. He was disappointed. All his hard work from last week didn't seem to have paid off at all.

"Hey!" Sango's voice boomed as she marched in front of Kikyo. Towering over her as she simply looked up at Sango with waiting eyes. "How can you say that! You even said it was great!" She grabbed Kikyo by the collar of her uniform, pulling her off the chair.

"Sango!" Miroku gasped, "What are you doing!"

Kikyo sighed in annoyance. "It was great, it wasn't perfect. It wasn't mastered as he believed."

"He only started last week!"

"And he believed that he already mastered the song. I was simply stating that he hadn't mastered it yet."

"But look at him!"

Kikyo eyed Kohaku. Watched as he hung his head low.

"He's depressed now!"

"As his teacher, I'm not supposed to lie to him. I'm supposed to tell him the truth."

"But he's already great! Isn't that enough?" Sango's eyes narrowed in irritation. She just couldn't understand this girl. How could someone so heartless exist! She truly was the opposite of Kagome. She was a total bitch!

"No." Kikyo inwardly sighed. She was getting tired of this. As his teacher, she was supposed to make him into the best pianist. Of course telling him it wasn't perfect was her job. She was supposed to correct him and teach him the way of mastering the piece and any future pieces. Why couldn't Sango understand that? She really hated hard headed people like that. "He wasn't perfect. Therefore he hasn't mastered it. If the piece was played at a recital, the audience would only be entertained for the first few measures and eventually drift to sleep. It's great, but not perfect enough to catch an audience's attention for the whole piece. It was _boring_."

"You!" Sango's nostrils flared. "You heartless bitch!" She raised her fist and swung at Kikyo's cheek.

"Sango!" Miroku yelled.

"Nee-san!" Kohaku gasped.

Kikyo flinched and closed her eyes, waiting for that impact.

One...

Two...

It was bound to come.

Three?

Nothing.

She slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes widened at the sight before her.

"What are you doing!" Sango screamed, trying to free her fist from Inuyasha's grasp.

A pissed off look was on his face. His eyes quickly darted to Kikyo's shocked face and back at Sango. "Don't waste your time on her. It's not worth it." He threw her fist down and walked out of the room.

* * *

Questions filled his mind. Why the hell did he do that? He saved her. Why? He hated her. She was annoying. A bitch. Smart ass. Everything that wasn't Kagome. The thought that they had the same face and last name even pissed him off. So why did he save her?

He punched the wall and let out an annoyed growl. "Stupid look-a-like."

He paused.

That was it! That's why! He probably just saved her because she looked like Kagome. Yeah, that's it. Nothing more.

* * *

"What was that about?" Miroku asked.

Kohaku shrugged.

Sango let go of Kikyo's collar. "See you at home Kohaku. Let's go Miroku." She threw a glance at Kikyo, whom was now fixing her shirt and smoothing out the wrinkles. "I can't stomach being in here."

Miroku gave a slow nod. "Alright. Bye Kohaku. See you tomorrow Higurashi-san."

"Let's _go_ Miroku!" Sango called from the door.

"Coming, coming." He quickly rushed out to her.

"You're playing has greatly improved since when we had your first lesson." Kikyo began.

Kohaku slowly looked up.

"_Stand by Me_," Kikyo paused, watching as Kohaku waited to see what she would say next. "The meaning of the song is obvious. Do you understand the meaning, Kohaku?"

"Um..." He paused in thought. "No matter what happens, as long as you're with your loved one, you'll be okay?"

She nodded. "No matter the troubles and when you think your world is about to fall apart, as long as you're with your beloved one, you'll always be able to overcome the obstacle in your path." She looked away, Bankotsu filled her mind. "No matter what." She whispered to herself.

Kohaku watched with a puzzled look. "Sensei?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him, beckoning him to continue with whatever he was going to say.

"Have you experienced it before?"

She paused, "That's what your playing is lacking." She ignored his question. "It was performed wonderfully, but it was lacking emotion. But, that's probably because you've never had the experience right?"

Kohaku slowly shook his head. "No..."

She sighed. "Then let's move to a new piece."

"What?" Surprise was on his face.

"Well it'll be pointless to continue. Especially since you can't convey the emotion that's trying to be expressed. So let's move on."

He pursed his lips and furrowed his brows. "I guess." Sure he wanted to move on, but that was only if he had mastered the other one.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she got out the new piece. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to masted this one first."

She pursed her lips. "You would need to experience what the song is saying first. Until that day comes, we'll start a new piece."

"Alright..."

* * *

_What was he doing?_

_Bankotsu looked around him. Once again, day after day, he was surrounded solely by the grassland. _

_Sure, he was environment friendly, was this scenery was starting to piss him off. _

_There was freedom, space to roam around. But he felt trapped. Everything was endless. As if he would never find anything else. As if he would never get back._

_Wait. Get back? He paused and that to himself, "Where do I wanna go back too?"_

_The question plagued his mind._

_"Geez, you're really stupid. You know that?" A feminine voice said with annoyance._

_"Who's there!" He turned around, eying his surroundings for signs of the voice. _

_"You're so reckless!"_

_"Who's there!" He repeated again, looking around for the owner of the voice. _

_"You know, you're really something." The voice continued._

_It was weird. There was something about the voice that sounded so familiar, but he didn't know from where._

_"The reason I love playing is because I can express my emotions. Which you know I'm horrible at doing."_

_Playing? What does she play?_

_"Lazy. How long are you going to sleep for? Class is going to start soon." _

_Bankotsu smiled. Even when it was nagging, the voice still sounded cute._

_"Aloof? I'm aloof? Is that supposed to be a compliment?"_

_Bankotsu shrugged. "I don't know. Was it? I can't remember."_

_"Don't those corny things! So embarrassing." A melodic laugh was heard. "Idiot, that doesn't mean I didn't like it. Don't look so down."_

_Her voice. It was so nostalgic. _

_"I'm waiting. So come back soon okay?"_

_Come back? To where?_

_"Idiot! You said you wouldn't die and bragged about being the strongest fighter, but look at you!"_

_What? What happened? _

_"Hey."_

_Bankotsu quickly turned to the left; where the voice came from. He saw a girl in a white Sakura High School uniform_. _The wind blew from her left, the sun shined brighter than usual for some random reason, and her long, ebony hair flowed in the wind covered some of her face. Because of that, he couldn't make out her face. He wanted to move, to go see her, to go see her face, to look into her eyes, to ask her the questions that plagued his mind. But he couldn't move, his legs were immobile.  
_

_"I'm waiting."_

_Wait a little longer. He didn't know why, but he felt the urge. No, he felt the need to go to her. There was just something about her that he couldn't ignore, that he couldn't stay away from.  
_

_"Bankotsu?"_

_He pulled at his legs, but both were firmly planted in the ground._

_"Are you coming?"_

_With more strength, he pulled at his legs once again._

_"Hurry! Or I'm gonna leave!"_

_"Wait!" Bankotsu called out._

_"Hm, I have to go now. Bye!" _

_"WAIT!" He screamed. Using all his energy, his legs pushed off the ground. Quickly, running to the girl, trying to catch up to her before she was gone._

_Just a little closer. He was almost there. She was standing there, waiting for him to reach her._

_Almost..._

_Just a few more steps..._

_There!_

_He reached out, hoping to grabbed her arm. But at the last minute, she vanished before him._

_"What the hell was that!" Bankotsu looked around. Hoping to see her once again. "She! She was just here!" _

_"Come back...I miss you." The voice this time was in despair, pain, sadness._

_Bankotsu clenched his hand into a fist. His brows furrowed and eyes narrowed. _

_Determination filled his body._

_He didn't know why, but he felt the urge to beat up whoever caused that pained voice.  
_

_He wanted to just see her and give her a hug._

_Comfort her._

_Kiss her._

_That's all he wanted to do._

_But still, why did he want to do that to her?_

_Who was she?_

_And why...why can't he remember her?  
_

* * *

"Someone! Come quick!" Jakotsu called from the door of Bankotsu's waiting room.

"What happened?" Hakushin-sensei quickly rushed in the room.

"His eyes! They were twitching! And his fists clenched!" Jakotsu explained eagerly, hoping that it meant something. _Anything._

Hakushin waited. Watched for any other signs. One, two, three...five...ten seconds...one minute passed. But nothing. He sighed. "It was just a reflex motion. He's not awake yet."

"Yet.' That means he will some day, right?"

Hakushin paused at the door. "Let's hope." He whispered. "Who knows what will happen to _her_ if he doesn't." And with that, he left.

Jakotsu sighed and sat back in the chair. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "She's waiting. She's been waiting for a while. You said you wouldn't let her cry right? So hurry up and come back."

He looked at Bankotsu. "We're all waiting." He turned to the picture frame on the desk beside his bed. One frame was of Bankotsu and Kikyo, while the other was of their group of friends; him, Bankotsu, Kikyo, Kagura, and the rest of Shichinintai. "Come back already."

* * *

**ALRIGHT  
**

**Chapter 7! It was a blah...chapter :/ couldn't think of much ._.**

**but i hope you guys liked it! **

Suzuki Uchiha**: HAha, thanks! Hope this chap didn't disappoint :X**

HeartsXshadow**: haha, thank you! thank you! hmmm amnesia...who knows~ la~ :3 lol **

Random Inuxkik fangirl person**: haha well i wrote! hope you liked it! :X**

InuKikfan4ever**: Haha thanksies :D ooooh, I think I'm bankotsu and kikyo are cute well :O LOL**

anlmoon**: I'm glad you found this interesting :) i hope this chapter was interesting ****too!**

Organic**: LOL YOU'RE SO CUTE. BULLET FORM! HAHA yes i believe I have my mind set on a specific pairing :)**

Black Diamond07**: haha thanks! :)**

Montastic**: LOL you're just adorable! haha i hope you like this chappie :)**

StarPrincess999**: Yup! I'm pretty set on a pairing :D**

Taz**: hahah yes, hojo is part of the square thing lol sesshomaru was in this chap, sooo yay! :) umm lifesupport. tricky. since he has no family (if you noticed he lived alone and stuff) there's no one there to legally give the choice of yes or no to pulling the plug. And since Kikyo isn't a guardian or spouse to him, she can't make the decision. :/ **

tatoo26**: LOL Who said it was inuyasha x kikyo? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL**

**AND THANKS TO **Suzuki Uchiha, AngelLust12387, It'sMontastic, HeartsXshadow, InuKikfan4ever, anlmoon, **and** Black Diamond07** for adding and favoriting me and/or my story :)  
**

**PLEASE REVIEW GUYS.**

**OR I GET DISCOURAGED FROM WRITING ._.**

**AND I HAVE A NEW STORY OUT~**

**CALLED...**

_FATE_

**AND IF YOU GUYS DIDN'T KNOW, THE WHOLE STORY OF **_OUR OWN FAIRYTALE_** WAS EDITED. SO CHECK IT OUT :)**_  
_

**I THINK YOU GUYS WILL LIKE IT.**

**it's the most popular one so far!**

**well thanks again! :)**

**_-sportiegrl out~_  
**


	8. Chapter 8: Back

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Back  
**

"Ah, sorry." Sango's voice dripped with sarcasm as she 'accidentally' bumped into Kikyo while passing by her desk in the isle.

Remaining composed, Kikyo ignored the gesture, pretending as if it never happened.

Her expression turned sour. How could this girl just remain so calmly like that!

"Sango." Miroku warned, before she did anything rash.

She scrunched up her face, turned around with a 'humph', and stomped out the classroom.

"Ah, sorry about her, Higurashi-san." Miroku chuckled nervously.

She gave a small nod, acknowledging his apology.

"Um…don't take anything she does to heart. It's just, she's rather hard headed."

"…"

"Well—"

"Miroku!" Sango called from outside the classroom.

He jumped from his spot. "Shit…" He cursed. She was _mad_. "Ah, I'll see you later." And with that, he rushed out the room and to his girlfriend.

"Were you talking to her?" Her eyes narrowed straight at him.

"Well, yeah—"

"Why!" She barked at him. Passer-bys were staring as others were peeking their heads outside of the classrooms. Sure, it was common seeing Sango yelling at Miroku, but she has _never_ been this upset. Plus, Miroku getting yelled at and watching him trying to worm his way out of the situation sure was entertaining.

"Well because you were being mean to her for _no_ apparent reason." He defended. It didn't click in his mind until he saw her fuming eyes that what he just said…shouldn't have _been_ said. "I-I-I mean—"

"No. Apparent. _ Reason_?"

"Well—"

"First off, she was rude! Second, did you _not_ see how mean she was to Kohaku?" She scoffed, "There's my reasons. And those are some pretty darn good reasons!"

"Hey Miroku, wanna go grab some food?" Inuyasha called as he came back from the restroom. Pausing in step, he quickly surveyed the scene before him; Sango was beyond pissed, Miroku was beyond shitless, and the crowd…well the crowd was practically sitting around and eating popcorn. The warning lights and sirens went off in his head. That meant only one thing—he needed to get the hell out of there and fast before he gets dragged into the middl—.

"Ah, Inuyasha!" Miroku called out with a hopeful look, pleading him to help him get out of the situation. Imagine a puppy on the adoption shelter commercials; it was the same thing.

Crap. Too late. He cleared his throat, "I'll see you later, you seem busy." As quick as possible, he tried speed walking.

"No! It's fine. I'll go with you!" It was as if Miroku had a special super power—teleportation. Because in a nanosecond, he was already by Inuyasha's side, briskly speeding down the halls while dragging Inuyasha along with him.

"This conversation isn't over, Miroku! We'll finish this later!" She shouted down the halls in fury.

"Later, then!" He shouted back, all the while continuing down the hall. Hoping to get away from her as much as possible for the time being.

"MIROKU!" She let out a small scream of frustration before turning to the group of onlookers. "What are you all looking at!" In an instant, the crowd dispersed and proceeded to mind their own business.

* * *

"Did you hear that, Yura-chan?" A beautiful third year girl with long black hair and teal eyes asked Yura. Compared to Yura's uniform, hers had a small star embroidery on her collar; representing her high status family name.

"Yes I did, Kaguya-sama." Yura answered with a smirk. "Are you going to use Hiraikotsu-san to go against Higurashi?"

The so-called Kaguya-sama smiled a devilish smile as she nodded. "_And_, I happened to have seen something interesting after school the other day that's worth telling to Sara-chan." Her grin widened.

"Hm? Is that so?" Yura gave her an intrigued smile. "I assume it's something related to the elder Tessaiga brother? Since, you know, she's _so in love_ with him."

Kaguya chuckled, "Of course."

* * *

'_Jeez, if she wanted to rant and argue, then at least do it somewhere else. Disturbing everyone…rude.'_ Kikyo thought in annoyance as neatly organized her belongings and proceeded to leave the classroom. Eating a melon bread as she made her way down the halls, she quickly reached the music room—one of her sanctuaries on school grounds.

Her fingers brushed the white keys as she figured out what song she was going to sing. As soon as she decided, she took a seat and began the first few measures of the melody.

" _Hello, I'm quite stunned  
but my friend's call me Higurashi.  
I'm really tripping on my own words and it's not reflecting the best of me.  
Mmhmm  
You say the room is pretty crowded  
and it's not really your scene  
I can tell by way you can't settle in that steel plated seat.  
Mmhmm_

_Your voice is like the feeling of holding hands for the first time, and for a moment, everything's right._  
_Like that._  
_The way it melts into my ears is like the way I feel when I'm enveloped in strong arms or a warm fleece blanket._  
_Like that._  
_Could you sing me to sleep? "_

* * *

"Hey, I'm gonna walk around for a bit." Inuyasha told Miroku as he prepared to leave him behind.

"Wait. What? Why?" Fear crept into his thoughts about his girlfriend and their next confrontation.

"I need to think for a bit…alone."

"…" Miroku didn't know how to respond. It took him a few seconds until he could actually think of a reply. "I don't know whether I should be congratulating you for actually _thinking_ or if I should be worried, since you _never_ think."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Shut up. I'll see you later."

"Alright. Don't get a brain cramp!"

Inuyasha ignored and rolled his eyes at the last remark. Sometimes, he couldn't understand how Sango could put up with such an idiot.

Before he realized where he was headed to, Inuyasha was already by the music room. "Keh, can't believe I came over here." He was about to turn and leave, but the piano melody caught his ears. Compared to the usual songs or melodies he heard Kikyo play, this one was different. Different from a love song or a classical song, this one sounded more like a calming and soothing lullaby.

He leaned against the frame of the door, slowly closing his eyes as he quietly listened to the sweet song.

_"__ It's never been hard to feign confidence  
until you stood right in front of me  
And like being at the top of a roller coaster, I'll never feel ready  
to talk to you.  
When I mustered up the courage,  
I took a deep breathe in  
and as I exhaled, I completely forgot that I existed.  
I stood there for a moment, all red in the face  
my heart almost ceased to beat  
when you said my name_

_Your voice is like the feeling of holding hands for the first time, and for a moment, everything's right.  
Like that.  
The way it melts into my ears is like the way I feel when I'm enveloped in strong arms or a warm fleece blanket.  
Like that.  
Could you sing me to sleep?_

_You make me wanna write 10 albums_  
_all about the way you make me feel like I'm the only one in the room_  
_When all eyes are on you. "_

The moment he heard the piano bench scrape the floor, he almost immediately jumped. Unsure of what he should do; where he should hide. Wait. What? He paused in thought. Hide? Why should he have to hide? There was _no_ reason for him having to—.

The door slowly slid open.

'_Shit! I should have hid!'_ He cursed himself as he stood frozen next to the door.

Kikyo slowly stepped out and turned her heads towards Inuyasha. Eying him, waiting for him to explain himself.

He immediately blurted out, "I-I wasn't spying on you, if that's what you think!" He wanted to face-palm in a second. He. Was. An. Idiot. Enough said.

She raised a delicate brow. But after a few seconds she simply shook her head and began walking away.

"Hey! You're just gonna leave? Rude."

She stopped, glanced at him over her shoulder and pointed to the ceiling. And on cue, the bell rang; signaling the end of lunch and start of the next class. Abruptly, she turned forward and strode elegantly to class.

"What the hell? How does she always manage to do that!" He said in awe with his jaw dropped.

* * *

_Bankotsu leaned against the huge tree as he plucked the grass from the ground. He was sitting cross-legged with his elbow propped up on one leg and his head in his hand. Man, was he bored. Softly, he began humming a small tune to himself._

" _We can live, happily ever after_

_No matter what we go through_

_You know I'll always love you.__ "_

_He didn't know where that song was from, but it just sounded so familiar. But sadly, those were the only lyrics that he remembered. Although, he did remember how the melody sounded and continued to hum the rest of the song. That is, until he got tired of it._

_He didn't know how long it been since he last saw that girl, but it felt like forever. He was in utter boredom. In the beginning, he was cool with just hanging around in the field, but after a while, it was dull. The time seemed to never change, the sun never wavered from its spot, no one was around, and there seemed to be _nothing_ within a five-mile radius from his spot. Heck, he didn't even know how long he was sitting there for, but he was willing to bet it was a few hours._

"_Hey, wake up. Wake up, wake up, wake up." A voice nagged._

_Huh? Bankotsu jolted his head up, searching around for the voice. Not just anyone's voice, but _hers._ It was her voice. Which meant, she returned! _

"_Are you getting up yet?"_

"_I'm up, I'm up!" He responded immediately, hoping that she heard him._

"_Come on."_

_Come on? Where to? He looked around, hoping to find the girl._

"_Come back." The voice pleaded._

_He looked around, but still nothing. Slowly, he was sinking into his frustrations. "Where to! I can't even find you!"_

"_Hurry up." The voice begged._

_His ears perked, the voice! Behind him! He spun around. Relief hit him when he saw a female figure standing in front of the blinding light. "Found you." He breathed out with a grin._

"_Hurry." Her whispers reached his ears._

_Her last phrase was what motivated him to finally move, to pump his legs as fast as he could towards her. And boy was he glad, unlike last time, his legs weren't constrained to the ground. A victorious grin was plastered on his face as he finally reached her, but the moment he was almost at arms length with her, the bright light behind her moved forward, engulfing everything in sight. The light shined brightly, blinding Bankotsu and forcing him to close his eyes shut._

* * *

"Hurry." Kikyo whispered, as she held onto Bankotsu's hand. Her thumb softly caressed the back of his hand as she patiently waited for him, hoping that he would awaken some time soon. She glanced out the window, gazing at the dark sky and crescent shaped moon before looking down at her phone.

She sighed, "It's already eight…I guess I have to go." She slowly stood up and planted a soft kiss on Bankotsu's forehead—right on the scar. "Goodbye, see you tomorrow." A sad smile graced her features as she turned and left the room, softly shutting the door as she left.

It was too bad that Kikyo didn't stay in the room a while longer.

It was only a few minutes after she left that the eyelids of her beloved one slowly fluttered open. He looked around, with blank confusion. Where was he? Why was he connected to machines? He looked down, why was he wearing a hospital clothes? What happened to him? What's going on? And more importantly, who was he?

* * *

**Alright! **

**Sorry it took a while. :X A lot of stuff have been happening...If you haven't seen my other chapter updates, then you don't know what's been going on -_- Nothing serious! I assure you. Just, College + Greek Life...this means, I have NO LIFE. :/ Sad face. And boy trouble...WELL. I _thought_this guy I was into had mutual feelings for me...but turns out he didn't. Big fail on my part ._. BUT, we're still friends. Whatevers! LOL**

Um...I'm starting school in like two days :X So...you guys most likely won't be getting another update for a while :X I was trying to get this chapter up two days ago, but one of my "sisters" stayed at my place for the break...and I had to keep her entertained, which meant I had no time to write :{ Sorry, guys! BUT IT'S UP NOW! :)

raralandia**: lol glad you love it :3**

Ja Yeoung**: YAY! :D I don't think anyone's ever used "breathless" with me before ^-^**

InuKikfan4ever**: LOL well...I needed her to be mean in this story until** **I officially introduce the actual antagonists of the story. :3** **Yeah...I'm leaning towards Bankotsu :X LOL sorry!**

SparklyColours**: HE'S UP. HE'S UP :3**

Suzuki Uchiha**: Intense indeed :)))**

LiilxMiaa**: He's officially awake :D**

Sonzai Taz**: lol glad you like! Sorry for the wait :X  
**

mangagirl135**: lol it has!**

It'sMontastic**: thanks you! :D And if you didn't see my other update...I wrote in the author's note that I'm trying to start on that new story :D**

Black Diamond07**: LOL only Inuyasha knows :3 hahaha**

KIKXSESSHY**: Glad you love :)**

**Thanks for the add/fave:** NFN Girl**,** Ja Yeoung**, **raralandia**, and** LiilxMiaa

**The first song was by my** **girl **Stephanie Floresca **singing her original song, **Sing Me To Sleep**. It's an AMAZING song. I changed the "higurashi" part from the original LOL Here's the link... .com/watch?v=bDYQlxczfPY**

**The second song that Bankotsu hummed was called** Happily Ever After (Infinity and Beyond) **by **John Cedrick. **Here's the link~ .com/watch?v=NqGNwb3tsew**

**Well, HAPPY PAST HOLIDAYS, NEW YEARS, BELATED AND PRESENT AND FUTURE BIRTHDAYS :) BE SAFE EVERYONE! HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL!**

**AND HOPE YOU LIKED THIS UPDATE!**

**_-sportiegrl out~_  
**


	9. Chapter 9: Her

**ENJOY!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Her**

"Hiraikotsu-san, may I have a word with you?"

The voice stopped Sango as she was about to cross the threshold and into the classroom. She quirked a brow and crossed her arms, eyeing the 'princess' of the school. "Kanazaki Kaguya." She paused while giving a quick glance at the girl besides her, "and the mindless servant, Sakasagami Yura. What do you two want?" Instant annoyance filled her voice. "Where's the other servant of yours?"

"Hey—!"

Kaguya raised an elegant hand, signaling for Yura to stop. "Yura-chan and Sara-chan aren't servants. We prefer the term 'friends.' Besides, I simply wish to talk." A polite smile graced her lips.

Sango smirked in amusement at the gesture. "About?"

"That," she paused before shooting a quick glance at Kikyo, who was idly sitting in her seat, waiting for the first class of the day to begin. "Is a private matter that I wish to keep between the three of us."

"And _why_ would I want to have a 'private matter' with you?"

"Because," a sly smile controlled her lips, "I happened to have heard about the incident yesterday and wish to discuss the," she paused to find the right words. "…The unpleasant source of our problems."

Sango paused for a moment, contemplating on whether to at least hear the girl out or just brush her off completely as usual. "Well," she hesitated slightly, "I guess it wouldn't hurt too much to hear your voice."

Kaguya controlled her devious smile from forming, "excellent."

* * *

"…yo!"

Kikyo was busy zoning out on the environment around her to notice her best friend voice yelling from down the halls.

"Kikyo!"

Slowly zoning back in on the environment around her, she turned her head towards where the voice was coming from. Not even a minute later, the door slid open with a loud bang as Jakotsu rushed into the room panting for air. Kikyo raised a slender brow, waiting for him to catch his breath.

He quickly rushed towards her desk with a pissed off look. "Why does your phone keep going to voicemail?"

"It died last night and I forgot to charge it, so I left it at home." Her brows were furrowed in confusion.

"And this morning! I showed up and you weren't home!"

She answered slowly, "Because I left for school already? What are you getting so worked up about?"

"_Well_, if your phone was working then you would know that he woke up!"

Eyes widened. A pause of breath. Countless thoughts ran through her mind, trying to process the new information. A patch of air was trapped within her throat as she managed to squeak out a quiet "what?"

* * *

"Higurashi Kikyo."

The classroom was quiet as Shippo called roll. He looked up, searching for the slender arm of the raven-haired girl.

"Odd…" He muttered to himself. "Has anyone seen Higurashi-san?"

"Sensei, I saw her leave with Jakotsu-kun." A girl in the middle row answered.

"Do you know where they went?"

"Nope."

"Alright then, I guess we'll continue on." He said with a sigh as he called the next name.

Inuyasha turned to his left, peeking from his arms at the empty seat. His thoughts were wondering where the piano girl left to and why she left in the first place. He gave a subtle headshake, trying to get rid of any thoughts he had of her. But to his dismay, curiosity was slowly getting the best of him. "Where do you think she went?" He whispered, leaning over towards Sango.

"Who cares?"

He shrugged, "Well she's the annoying honor student type and he's the entertainer of the class."

"So?" She replied in hushed tones. "What does it matter? You never liked either of them anyways." She leaned closer to him so her voice was low. "You've been rather strange lately. Well more strange than usual. What's going on?"

"Noth—"

"Ahem!" Shippo cleared his throat, gathering the class' attention. "You two _do_ know that I can hear every word you're saying right? You two aren't exactly 'whispering."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Whatever, canine ears," he muttered under his breath.

A vein almost popped from his neck, "_What_ was that Inuyasha?" Shippo questioned in a dangerous tone.

He smirked, "Keh. I thought you were able to hear everything?"

His eyes narrowed. "Don't be a smartass. Or else," he warned.

"Ha! Or else what?" A challenging grin etched on his lips.

"After school clean up duty. By. Your. Self." Shippo's winning smirk appeared as he saw Inuyasha's jaw drop and disbelief.

"Are you serious?"

"Oh, a hundred percent serious. I can add another day if you want or you can just sit quietly in your chair and for once and just pay attention to my lecture."

Inuyasha grumbled incoherent words under his breath as he slouched over the top of his desk. Man, this day just sucked.

* * *

"Kikyo, we've been trying to contact you but the calls went straight to voicemail and you have yet to add the new house number to the contacts list." Hakushin stated urgently as he saw the raven haired girl and Jakotsu walk into the lobby of the hospital.

"Her phone died, but luckily I finally found her." Jakotsu explained.

"Is he in his room?" Kikyo questioned restlessly.

"Yes, but—"

The moment her question was confirmed, she bolted to the elevators, repeatedly pressing the up arrow button and hoping the doors would open within the next second. Soon enough, she was inside the elevator and on her way to the room of her beloved.

Hakushin sighed and shook his head. "I wasn't finished speaking."

"What wrong?" Jakotsu raised a brow at the elder's sigh.

A wrinkled frown formed on his lips. "It appears that Bankotsu has amnesia."

* * *

The door quickly slid open, revealing Bankotsu sitting upright in his bed staring out the window. As soon as he heard the door open, he slowly turned his head to see whom it was that entered.

He watched carefully as he saw a beautiful raven-haired girl with chocolate brown eyes stand before the door's threshold. Her breathing was slightly heavy, indicating that she may have been running earlier. Her right hand was still clutching the door while the left hand, which was previously on the wall, fell limply to her side. Her plump lips parted, sucking in a breath of air and giving out a deep breath of relief. He stared in confusion as the girl's quivering lips slowly curved into a smile. Her eyes watered and softened as she continued to stare at him. He slowly raised a brow, what was her problem?

Not even a second later, the girl zoomed toward the bed and tackled him in a hug, slinging her arms around his neck and burying her face in the crook of his neck. She stood on the bed with her knees beside his legs. Luckily, she was as light as a feather and his body was strong enough to balance the sudden weight that attacked him. Countless questions ran through his mind, but in the midst of those questions was a feeling of guilt. Was he the reason why she looked like she was about to cry? He heard a small sniffle and felt liquid on his skin. Scratch that; was he the reason why she _was_ crying?

She slowly pulled away and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I-I'm sorry. It's just," she tried finishing her sentence with her choked breathing. "I-I."

Hesitantly, Banktosu backed away slightly. "Uh…" he began nervously. Honestly, he didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry?"

Whatever the girl was doing, she stopped and stared at him. Her crying face slowly ceased to remain as it began to form a confused one. "What?"

"Look, whatever it was that I did to you before, I'm sorry. But can you just like, not cry? I really don't know what to do in those situations…especially if it's someone that I don't know."

"You…don't remember me?" A crestfallen look casted on her features.

Aw crap. Bankotsu was mentally shitting bricks as he watched her confused look turn into an emotionless one. If there was one thing he could remember, it was that when girls had an emotionless look on their face, it meant all hell was about to break loose. "Uh…I'm sorry?" He repeated once again as he mentally slapped himself. Why the hell did he say that, _again_?

"Ah Kikyo! You—" Jakotsu paused midway as he saw the tense atmosphere, confused and slightly panicked patient, and the once again teary-eyed girl. "Oh. You already know." He concluded in a soft and low voice.

Bankotsu looked up at Jakotsu with a brow raised once again. "Who are you guys? Hakushin-sensei, can you explain what's going on please?"

"Ah…Bankotsu, I wanted to tell you when these two were here." Hakushin walked into the room and sat down on the chair.

Hesitantly, he asked, "Tell me what?"

"It seems that from your accident, you're suffering from amnesia."

"So you're saying I lost my memories?" He cast his eyes downwards. "Geez." He muttered under his breath. In the corner of his eyes, he noticed the girl tightly squeezing the bed sheets as her hands balled into small fists. He looked up at her face, noticing as she tried with difficulty to hold back her tears and sobs. For some reason, he had a small urge to hug and soothe her, but he went against it. He waved it off as probably part of his personality, the type to be weak against crying girls.

"I'm afraid so."

"How? When did it happen? How old am I? Do I have any relatives? Friends? Do I go to school? Am I a dropout? Do I work? A girlfriend? Or girl_friends_—OW!" He shouted as he cradled his left arm.

"Girl_friend_. Non-plural." Kikyo shot him a deathly glare.

"…" He was speechless, shocked. A second ago, she was on the verge of crying and now, she looked like she was about to kill him. He gave a small gulp and slow nod. "Oh, okay…" He said meekly.

Jakotsu did his best to hold back his laughter. Man, even though he has amnesia, he was still the same Bankotsu and Kikyo still treated him as she normally did.

"You were involved in a car accident. You're currently seventeen years old. I believe your family has passed. You have plenty friends back home, but your best friend is this young man standing besides me." Hakushin motioned to Jakotsu.

"Hey." He said with a grin.

"Hey…" Bankotsu replied back awkwardly.

"Yes, you go to school. No, you didn't dropout. You used to work, but since you had your accident, you've been replaced. And you have _one_ girlfriend, Kikyo." He answered motioning to the girl on the bed.

"Whoa, I managed to hook a beauty like you?" His mouth fell open from the surprise.

Jakotsu couldn't take it anymore. He threw his head back as he let out all the laughter that he was holding in. Guess people really do never change.

Kikyo smacked her forehead in a facepalm motion. She shook her head at his remark. Geez, that guy really didn't change. "It's good to see that at least you're still the same." She said with a pained expression on her face as she tried to smile. The tears she tried so hard to hold back were beginning to fall.

Jakotsu ceased his laughter and exchange looks with Hakushin.

The elder gentleman stood up as quickly as possible and briskly and quietly walked out of the room with Jakotsu trailing behind him. They closed the door to the room and Hakushin walked away, getting away from the tense atmosphere and giving the couple some personal space. While Jakotsu on the other hand, pressed his ear on the door, hoping to be able to listen in on their conversation.

"You really don't remember anything?" She asked in a low voice.

"No…the only reason I know my name is because everyone keeps calling me that."

"I see." The more she tried to hold back her tears, the more they fell.

He pursed his lips, unsure of what to do or say. "Look, it's okay, you don't have to cry—"

"I'm not crying!" A blush of embarrassment tinged her cheeks as she turned her head so that he couldn't see her face.

A small, amused smile graced his lips as he watched her reaction. "It's okay. Crying is—"

"I said I'm not crying!" She turned her back to him and brought her hands to cover her face. Geez, she was too embarrassed to face him!

Bankotsu chuckled as he watched her.

"Don't laugh!" She said with a flustered look.

But this just made him laugh even harder.

"Stop!" Her cheeks reddened from embarrassment. She grabbed the pillow and threw it square at his face before running out the room.

"W-wait!" He called after her, but it was too late.

"Wow, with amnesia, you really still are the same." Jakotsu said with a grin as he walked into the room once again. "Well actually, usually you handle those situations better, but I'm sure you'll be able to relearn that some time soon."

Bankotsu sighed. "I'm really sorry. I don't know what to say to her."

"Well that's a first."

"What do you mean?" He raised an intrigued brow.

"Before, you always had something to say to her. You ran your mouth like no tomorrow when you talked to her." Jakotsu took a seat in the chair with a grin. "Honestly, I don't know how she wasn't annoyed by it since you wouldn't shut up and Kikyo, herself isn't much of a talker to begin with." He ended with a chuckle.

"Geez," Bankotsu sighed. "What do I say to her? I'm supposed to be her boyfriend right? I don't know…it's too weird and awkward. Besides, ever since the first time I saw her, all she's been doing is crying and I can't help but think it's my fault."

Jakotsu shrugged. "Figure it out. You can either sit here and do nothing or just go and talk to her."

He paused for a moment, contemplating his decisions. "Well…I got nothing better to do. Do you know where she went off to?"

"Hm…" He tapped his chin, pondering on the options. "Most likely the rooftop."

"Rooftop?" He raised a brow.

Jakotsu nodded. "Yup."

Bankotsu threw over the blankets and moves his legs to the edge of the bed. Unsteadily, he slowly eased himself off the bed and stood on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Jakotsu asked with a worried look. "Are you sure you can stand or walk?"

"I'm fine. I have to get used to walking again anyways." He kicked his legs a little, allowing for more blood to flow through his legs. "So how do I get to the rooftop?"

"Go out, make a left and go to the elevator. Press 'R."

Bankotsu nodded, "Thanks. And you're my best friend right?"

"Yup!" He answered with a wide grin. "Best friends forever!"

Bankotsu chuckled, "Wow. Well, you are…"

"Jakotsu. Remember it."

He nodded, "I will. Thanks again Jakotsu." And with that, he went on his hunt for Kikyo.

Jakotsu jumped onto the bed and put his hands behind his head. A small grin formed on his lips. "And once again, the day is saved, thanks to Jakotsu."

* * *

"Found you."

Kikyo stayed silent as she stared at the view over the city with her back facing him.

Bankotsu walked over to her and leaned his back against the fence as he sat to her right side. "So…"

She still said nothing.

Bankotsu sighed. He decided to follow her and stay silent as well. The two sat there, sitting in moments of silence. It was until Bankotsu couldn't take it anymore. He was itching to speak to her. "I'm sorry."

She eyed him in the corner of her eyes and quickly turned back to watch the scenery. "For?" She said quietly.

He leaned his head back and stared at the sky. "Laughing at you. Forgetting you." He did a quick glance at her and then turned back to the sky. "Honestly, this is weird. Awkward. I don't know what to do. I don't remember having a girlfriend, so I don't have a clue on what I'm supposed to do or how to act. It's just," he paused searching for the word.

"New?"

"Yeah!"

A small smile etched the corners of her lips. "You said something similar when we first started going out."

"I did? What was it?"

She pursed her lips in thought. "It's a secret."

"What? Not fair. You can't just say that and then not tell me." He frowned, giving a small huff as he crossed his arms in displeasure.

"Well then, you'll just have to regain your memories."

"Wow, rude."

Kikyo let out a small chuckle and shrugged him off.

He smiled to himself, it was nice to finally see her not crying. "So what now?"

"Hm?"

"Us. What are we going to do? Are we going to continue being together or…"

She bit her lip in thought. "Let's take things slow."

"But won't it be weird? I don't remember you and right now I—"

She stopped him before he could finish the sentence. "Then, I make you fall in love with me all over again. It wasn't hard the first time." She gave him a small grin.

"Hm…"

"Yes?"

"So the first time, you made me fall in love with you? So you were chasing after me? Am I that desirable?" He questioned with a cocky grin.

She rolled her eyes. "Not. Even. Close."

He laughed, "Well, how did it happen?"

"Regain your memories and you'll know." She stuck her tongue out at him with the smartass remark.

"That's not fair, rude."

She smirked and shrugging him off once again.

"Well, in case you're wondering; I'm in."

"Really?" Her face lit up with lights as she lunged forward, wrapping him in a hug.

Slightly taken aback, he froze; hesitating on what to do. So he decided to awkward pat her on the back.

Kikyo pulled away and slightly bowed her head in apology. "I'm sorry, was that too sudden?"

"Yeah…I think it's a little too early for physical contact of the sort." The moment that phrase left his lips, he came down with regret. He saw her lips quiver as she tried shielding her watery eyes by turning her head. He immediately began blurting out whatever he could think of to stop the waterworks. "I mean, well, like, I'll probably get used to it soon! It doesn't mean I don't like your touch. Like, you're a woman _of course_ I like your touch. Especially since—"

A small giggle was heard and she wiped away her tears.

"No more crying?" He asked with a hopeful look.

"It's fine." She let out a breath. "I just need to get used to it and be patient."

Bankotsu took in what she said and gave a sigh of relief as the corner of his lips turned up. Maybe, this won't be so bad after all.

* * *

"_I'm new to this, having a girlfriend thing. So, if I screw up or piss you off or make you cry; damn I hope that never happens, but if that does happen, just let me know. Tell me what I did wrong so that I can fix it. I don't want to ruin something or lose you because of my stupidity."_

"_Why me? Out of all your fangirls, why me?"_

_He pondered for a moment, recalling his memories as a smile crept up on his lips. "I passed by you once day and since then, I couldn't take my eyes off you. Before I knew it, everywhere I went, I searched around for you, hoping you were somewhere close by so I could finally talk to you."_

"_You were nervous to talk to me?" A small chuckle escaped her breath. "You're never nervous though, especially with the female population."_

"_Exactly. It was something new that I didn't understand. All I knew was that I really wanted to talk to you and I was too nervous to even gather the courage."_

"_Oh really?"_

"_Really."_

"_You didn't seem so nervous the first time we talked. Or should I say, the time you almost killed me with the soccer ball."_

_He threw his head back in laughter. "My palms were so sweaty the moment I saw it was you. Honestly, I'm glad I almost killed you with the soccer ball."_

"_Hey!" She shot him a look._

"_Calm down, you didn't let me finish. I was saying, I'm glad I almost killed you with the soccer ball because if it had not been for that, I probably would have never spoken to you."_

"_Sounds hard to believe since you're an expert at talking to girls."_

_He sighed and pouted, "Believe what you want, but it's the truth."_

_A small grin etched her lips. "Alright, alright, I believe you. So drop it." She pecked a kiss on his cheek. "And what happened in your mind after?"_

"_Hm…I thought, wow, she's a real bitch."_

"_Bankotsu!"_

"_Ha-ha!" He laughed, shielding himself from her punches. "I'm kidding, kidding!" He planted a kiss on her forehead to ease her pout. "I thought, I'm gonna make her fall in love with me. She's the one, Higurashi Kikyo. Her."_

* * *

__**Yay chapter 9 is up! Sorry it took FOREVER. I've been super busy. After school let out, I started working, and there's family problems. But yeah, I managed to finally find time to update! And right after my birthday! haha  
**

**Hope you guys liked it, I dunno, but it felt a little too rushed. I might edit it later on, who knows. REVIEW PLEASE!  
**

**And as for the other stories...I honestly on wrote like a sentence for **Fate** and that's it...I'll try getting to the soon!**

****anonymous**: It's up! :)**

****LiiLxMia**: Haha exactly, better late than never! heh heh.  
**

****FreakishNature**: Thanks for the add! hahaha! another SessxKik fan! Heads up, one day in the future, I'll be posting a SessxKik fanfic :)  
**

****SparklyColours**: hahahhaha i'm leaning towards Bankotsu too! ^_^ heh heh**

Black Diamond07**: I know! How dare that happen :(**

****InuKikfan4ever**: haha thanks! and happy late late birthday! LOL  
**

cosmosxhikaru**: thanks for the add!****  
**

****mangagirl135**: haha awww, not a bankotsu fan i see? which one are you rooting for?**

**WELL! THAT'S ALL OF THEM! I HOPE YOU GUYS KEEP ON REVIEWING! AND AGAIN SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! JUST A LOT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! HOPE YOU LIKED IT! HAVE A GREAT SUMMER! AND LOOK OUT FOR MORE UPDATES!  
**

****_-sportiegrl out~  
_


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